On Wednesday, April 9th Waterford City and County Council hosted a Housing Conference in the Granville Hotel highlighting the necessity to accelerate the increase in housing output from both public and private sectors, building on the strong momentum in delivery over the past 12 months.
Representatives from major employers and the construction industry were present as Waterford City and County Council Chief Executive, Sean McKeown and private sector employers outlined the critical need for cross-sector collaboration to deliver housing not only for balanced social development but also to support economic growth.
Keynote speakers included Ivan Grimes, Director of Services for Planning at Waterford City and County Council; Keith Williams, Capital Projects Manager SETU; Brian McGee, Regional Enterprise Development Manager IDA; James Mernin, Site Lead Red Hat; Mark Hennessy, VP Operations Baush+Lomb, and Noel Frisby, Director Frisby Construction.
Mr. McKeown said, “Waterford is a city and county on the rise, growing faster than the national average, attracting record public and private investment. But to sustain this momentum, we need to accelerate the momentum in housing delivery across all tenures, especially in the private sector.
“The Council is committed to delivering our Housing for All target of 1,130 social homes by 2026. We are well on the way to meeting that target, with over 300 units delivered last year and a further 350 units will be completed this year.”
Mr. McKeown added “We need to activate the sites already in the pipeline, bring forward new developments and ensure we have the housing our people, businesses and economy need to thrive.”
Keith Williams of SETU outlined the need for additional housing for the student population as numbers are set to increase by 18% across the entire University over the next 10 years, equating to approximately 2,800 additional students.
Brian McGee, Regional Enterprise Development Manager, IDA Ireland, stressed the importance of continuing investment, with balanced regional development identified as one of the core pillars of IDA Ireland’s latest five-year strategy, Adapt Intelligently: A Strategy for Sustainable Growth and Innovation, 2025-29.
The shortage in rental and purchase supply, particularly in executive housing, along with greater connectivity routes to Dublin Airport and a general lack of retail offerings were cited by James Mernin, Red Hat Site Lead as issues that had been identified, particularly when it comes to attracting talent from areas outside the region, such as Dublin.
Mark Hennessy, VP Operations, Bausch+Lomb said that as the largest private sector employer in Waterford with 1,600 staff, housing is vital in continuing to attract new talent to Waterford.
Noel Frisby of Frisby Construction shared the vision of the former Waterford Crystal offices and showrooms, now being reimagined as an Enterprise and Innovation campus to drive investment and employment growth through collaboration of industry and academia.
Ivan Grimes, Waterford City and County Council reiterated the Council’s commitment to the provision of social and affordable housing units and to continuing to tackle vacancy and dereliction, saying, “Delivery of a range of initiatives such as the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) and the Affordable Purchase Scheme has long-term benefits, as it not only provides assistance to the provision of new homes, but this commitment and ongoing investment in the provision of social and affordable housing will also act as a catalyst for the private sector to provide larger homes as families grow and look to upsize.”
Waterford is bucking the trend. While there was a decline in completion of housing units last year nationally of approximately 6%, there was an almost 25% increase in house completions across Waterford city and county.
