The purchase of the former Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) on Kevin Street for more than €580 million for a new Dublin City Council headquarters and apartment complex has been completed, the council has confirmed.

The council hopes to have built the 14-storey scheme and vacated its Wood Quay base by 2030, in what will be the biggest move in the local authority’s history since the construction of the riverside offices started 50 years ago.

The council plans to replace the Sam Stephenson-designed offices at Wood Quay with more than 530 apartments that would be primarily used for cost-rental housing. An income would also derive from subletting up to a third of the new offices in the Kevin Street development.

The council’s new capital programme 2026-2028, outlined to councillors on Monday night, includes a budget provision of €104 million to provide for “site acquisition and associated professional fees” of the old college site, currently a derelict, partially-built office block. This would be incorporated into overall development costs of €581 million, the council said. These costs would be offset by scrapping the planned refurbishment of the Wood Quay buildings, renting out 30 per cent of the new offices at Kevin Street, and long-term housing gain at both Wood Quay and Kevin Street, the council said.

[ Dublin City Council move to former DIT site from Wood Quay expected to cost €581mOpens in new window ]

The purchase was completed last week, councillors were told on Monday. Although buying the site does not require councillor or Government sanction, the cost of the new development, which involves offices for 4,000 people and 299 apartments, is subject to Government approval. The scheme must also be submitted for review by the Department of Public Expenditure’s major projects advisory group, due to its price tag.

The old college campus was sold by the State in 2019 as part of the move by the DIT, now TU Dublin, to its consolidated campus at Grangegorman, on the north side of the city.

Developer Westridge Real Estate paid in the region of €145 million for the college site, almost twice the €80 million guide piece, on behalf of US investors, and in September 2021 secured planning permission for two office blocks up to 11 storeys in height, and three apartment buildings up to 14 storeys tall.

Work on the development called Camden Yard, which started in 2022, stalled two years later, with the shell of just two storeys built. In late 2024, funder BentallGreenOak appointed Grant Thornton as receivers to the project.

Late last year it emerged the council was bidding to acquire the site.

The Wood Quay offices require a complete energy retrofit to meet climate commitments. The council said the move to Kevin Street avoided a “projected circa €500 million retrofit cost with the existing civic offices which would not yield additional housing or wider regeneration benefits”.

The riverside site could accommodate 532 apartments, three-quarters of which would cost-rental housing, aimed at low- and middle-income workers, with the remainder used for social housing.

The Camden Yard offices would “comfortably accommodate a workforce of 4,000 people”. The council would require capacity for 2,800 staff, with the move allowing it to “end reliance on externally leased office space”, saving €2.4 million annually. The remaining 1,200 spaces would be available for rent.

The council hopes to secure ministerial approval to go to tender for builders by the end of this year, with a two-year construction phase and occupation by 2030. It estimates the office construction will cost €440 million, with the council facilities costing €338 million and the sublet offices costing €102 million. The 299 apartments would cost €141 million to build.