On Tuesday 8 September we were delighted to welcome over 500 delegates to the Beauchamps' Housing Conference, Beyond the Blueprint | Accelerate 2026, at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre.
We were honoured that James Browne T.D., Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, joined us to deliver a compelling keynote address. Conference chair Fidelma McManus, Partner & Head of Housing at Beauchamps, was then joined by Kate English, Deloitte Ireland's Chief Economist, to set the scene for our panel discussions and unpack key economic trends shaping Ireland's housing market.
Fidelma then led two high-impact panel discussions with key figures from across the sector:
Breaking the Infrastructure Bottleneck: how to unlock residential developments by overcoming utility deficits, accelerating infrastructure delivery, streamlining planning processes, and aligning State investment with national housing objectives. Fidelma was joined by Garret Doocey, Deputy Secretary General, Housing Activation Office, Maria O’Dwyer, Infrastructure Delivery Director, Uisce Éireann, John Coleman, Chief Executive, Land Development Agency, and Alice Charles, Director, Cities, Planning & Design, Arup.
What will it take to deliver affordable housing at scale? To answer this critical question, we brought together Caroline Timmons, Assistant Secretary, Housing Policy and Standards Division, Mick Mulhern, Assistant Chief Executive, Dublin City Council, Mandy Johnston, Chief Executive Officer, Irish Institutional Property, and Aoife Watters, Chief Executive Officer, Respond. These industry experts explored current housing output, affordability, viability and the conditions needed to attract long-term institutional capital - all critical to delivering affordable homes at greater pace and scale.
The speakers broadly determined that Ireland is moving in the right direction, but the system needs greater coordination, and alignment and that affordability will require a combination of supply, viable economics, stable policy, efficient public investment and growing private participation.
Catch the key moments, speaker highlights, and event proceedings in our event highlights video below.
Should you wish to speak with a member of our Housing and Commercial Real Estate group, please contact us.