First homes of O'Flynn Group's 550-home Dunkettle development launched for sale

On the market 20 years after Cork developer bought the lands for €24m

O'Flynn lands at Dunkettle, Cork.

The very first homes in a €250m 550-home development in Dunkettle will be launched for sale this week, more than 20 years after the O’Flynn Group paid €24 million for the 158-acre Glanmire lands.

The off-plan sales launch marks a major milestone for the developer whose earlier attempts to develop the land in the mid-noughties were repeatedly shot down by An Bord Pleanála amid concerns around an inadequate road network.

Now, with the Dunkettle Interchange in place, the group is advancing its vision to ultimately deliver more than 1,000 homes in the area, with a gross development value of circa €500m. Having secured planning permission for the first 550 homes, the group also intends to submit an application for a further 540 units, which would make the Dunkettle scheme one of the largest housing developments outside Dublin.

It would also become the group’s largest residential scheme in Munster, surpassing Mount Oval village, where the group delivered c900 units on 85 acres in the late ‘90s/early 2000s.

CGI of a 3-bed semi-d at the O'Flynn Group Dunkettle scheme

It will be roughly twice the size of nearby Ballinglanna, where the final homes in the 500-plus unit scheme were sold last year.

Ballinglanna was aquired by the group around the same time as the Dunkettle lands — c260 acres in total across the two sites — but Ballinglanna advanced more quickly in terms of housing delivery. It was one of the first schemes to enter the Strategic Housing Development process, and secured planning without appeal or judicial review.

The first phase of the Dunkettle scheme — under the Large Scale Residential Development process — was appealed to An Coimisiúin Pleanála, who gave the go-ahead last year.

Dunkettle is an area long identified as crucial for the provision of new housing in Cork: The Cork City Development Plan 2022–2028 identifies it (within the wider Glanmire area) as part of the city’s eastern metropolitan growth corridor, where it wants development to be delivered in a planned, phased manner, alongside supporting infrastructure. The road infrastructure has improved significantly since the lands were purchased in 2003, most notably with the opening in 2024 of the €215m Dunkettle Interchange.

Tom O’Driscoll, property/development director with the group, said they approached the site — which is set within 30 acres of woodland — “with a clear emphasis on careful masterplanning to make sure the development integrates with its surroundings, while delivering a sustainable and long-term community”.

Key considerations included the provision of substantial community open space for residents, as well as improved connectivity, “and a broad mix of housing, to cater for the market”, Mr O’Driscoll said.

Additional plans for the lands include proposals centred on Dunkathel/Dunkettle House and grounds, which will be the subject of a separate planning application, with a proposal to refurbish the house itself (a protected structure), as well as the walled garden and surrounding area to provide a mix of retail, artisan food, restaurant and other ancillary retail uses, as well as further landscaping of the 26 acres of parkland fronting Dunkettle House.

Release

The development will also extend the active travel infrastructure in the Glanmire and Tivoli areas, enhancing connections to vital resources such as the greenway/cycleway.

Today’s off-plan sales launch — through Sherry FitzGerald New Homes — sees the release of up to 30 homes as part of the first phase of development, with prices in the region of €360,000 for a terraced two-bed, with a limited number of three-bed townhouses from €435,000. The release also includes three-bed semi-detached units, with the majority priced in the region of €490,000. The first show house is expected to be ready by Q4 this year.

O’Flynn Group chair and CEO Michael O’Flynn said they were “excited” that the first launch of new homes at Dunkettle was finally taking place.

“This development has been earmarked as a key residential site to provide much needed housing to Cork city and surrounding areas with some time now. While we currently have planning permission for 550 units, we have ambitious plans for this site and intend to make a further application for an additional 540 units, together with a restoration of Dunkettle House to provide a range of retail and other types of uses on the site.”

Paul Hannon, director at Sherry FitzGerald New Homes said the level of enquiries and demand for Dunkettle “has been very strong” since they commenced marketing.

“This is to be expected given the schemes excellent location and the success of the neighbouring O’Flynn Group scheme Ballinglanna. There is a combination of buyer profiles expressing interest which include first time buyers, traders and downsizers and this scheme offers a superb mix of homes for all these buyer types.”

Mr Hannon added that most homes being released in the first phase qualify for the Government incentives Help to Buy and First Home Scheme.

It has been a long journey to today’s launch, starting with the purchase in 2003 of the 158-acre Dunkathel House and estate from the Russells, a landed Cork family who inherited Dunkathel through earlier estate connections and retained it for over a century.

An Bord Pleanála shot down separate planning applications from the O’Flynn group on a number of occasions, despite approval from Cork County Council. The plans were mothballed during the recession, before permission was ultimately granted on appeal in 2018 for the nearby Ballinglanna scheme.

Now attention turns to Dunkettle, with the first phase focused on 63 acres to the north of the site near Glanmire village, earmarked for a mix of 394 two-storey homes and 156 apartment and duplex units ranging from two to six storeys, at a density of 42.05 units per hectare.

Mr O’Flynn has previously said the first homes could be completed within around nine months of construction starting, with the full project expected to take six to seven years, based on experience at Ballinglanna. The expectation at Sherry FitzGerald is that they will sell circa 100 units per year.

The developer has a track record of long-term projects. He acquired an 18-acre site on Dublin’s Naas Road/Long Mile Road for €115m around two decades ago, which is finally now set for development, with backing from the Land Development Agency and permission for 1,142 apartments plus a 148-bed, 15-storey hotel.

For more information on Dunkettle, see www.dunkettlehomes.ie