Glenveagh snaps up sites for 870 homes

HOUSEBUILDER Glenveagh Properties said yesterday it had secured four development sites that will potentially deliver more than 870 residential units.

Glenveagh said it had completed its purchases of sites at Brook Lane, Rush in north Co Dublin, and signed an unconditional legal contract, understood to be with vendor Tetrarch Capital, for a site at Millennium Park, Naas, Co Kildare. Between them, the two sites in the Dublin commuter belt have the potential for in excess of 660 units and cost €29.5m.

In addition, Glenveagh said it had completed the acquisition of sites in Bray. Co Wicklow and Midleton, Co Cork, that were identified in its pre stock market flotation prospectus as part of the ‘Project Kells’ portfolio. These sites will deliver another 210 homes.

Glenveagh founder and CEO Justin Bickle said the firm had increased its land bank from a potential 3,000 units to 4,700 units in the 10 weeks since it floated on the stock market.

“The additional site acquisitions announced this morning demonstrate the success of Glenveagh’s recent engagement in the land market and represent a strong end to the year,” he said.

Glenveagh’s October listing raised €550m to fund land deals and housebuilding. The business was created from a combination of US distressed debt investor Oaktree’s development sites – scooped up during the economic crash – and the operations of Maynooth-based builder Bridgedale.

“In the 10 weeks since IPO, we have increased the size of our land bank from c 3,000 units to over 4,700 units, at an average cost of €57,000 per unit, and have now deployed over €150m of our IPO proceeds,” Mr Bickle said.