Housing symposium held on maximising land use for housing in Kildare

KILDARE County Council has hosted an inaugural think-in for maximizing land use for housing in the county at the Osprey Hotel in Naas last week (12 February).

Called ‘Unlocking Potential: Strategies for Land, Housing and Infrastructure Activation’, this symposium brought together senior leaders from Local and National Government, utilities, housing agencies and the development sector for a focused half-day of collaboration and solution building.

The event was hosted by Kildare County Council’s newly established Kildare Land Activation Office, It convened a wide range of industry experts and policymakers to examine solutions for accelerating housing and infrastructure delivery across County Kildare.

Discussions centered on unlocking land, streamlining planning and activating smart, coordinated infrastructure solutions needed to support sustainable growth in the county.

Four expert-led panel sessions each addressed a critical dimension of land and housing activation, highlighting the alignment of this process with the recently launched Government Housing Action Plan 2025 – 2030.

This calls on all local authorities to accelerate delivery with regard to land activation in Kildare where speakers, including representatives from Kildare County Council and Ballymore Homes, explored infrastructure deficits, barriers to delivery, and Kildare’s housing targets.

They also looked at unlocking zoned land and utilities, where engineers and planners from Kildare County Council were joined by representatives from Uisce Eireann, EirGrid and Irish Rail to discuss integrated planning and infrastructure activation. 

Panelists from HISCo, HBFI, Bank of Ireland and the National Land Activation Office addressed accelerating housing delivery with regard to vacancy, dereliction, Part V delivery, strategic land activation and local government innovation.