The man who snapped up suburbia

Big Developers:Menolly Homes has attracted controversy, with pyrites in Baldoyle, local opposition in Dunboyne and a row with Liam Lawlor, but it hasn't stopped it building 20,000 commuter homes, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor.

The glossy brochure for Beaupark was more effusive than most. "Be part of something beautiful," it said. "On the Baldoyle/Balgriffin coastal fringe of Dublin, Beaupark is opening up a whole new era of city/coastal living [offering] one of the first opportunities to buy in a new town, Capital North".

Less than three years later, developer Menolly Homes was testing the foundations of houses and apartments on the estate after discovering that the hardcore used in their construction contained high levels of pyrite, a mineral that expands if it comes into contact with air or water, causing cracks in floors and walls.

Large cracks had appeared in at least 40 of the 300 houses in the Drynam Hall estate in Kinsealy, north Dublin, also built by Menolly Homes in 2004, and tests were being carried out on 60 houses in that estate. The same infill material had been used in the construction of Beaupark and Myrtle, another Menolly-built estate near Baldoyle.

"The vast majority of houses that have been tested have come back positive for the presence of pyrite and many more householders are expecting the worst," according to local Labour councillor Seán Kenny.

Tommy Broughan, Labour TD for Dublin North East, has raised the issue in the Dáil, on behalf of affected constituents.

Menolly, run by Séamus Ross, has taken legal action against Irish Asphalt, the quarry owner that supplied the infill material. It had its reputation to defend as the biggest volume homebuilder in the Dublin area, delivering quality housing at relatively affordable prices - all fairly conventional stuff, with few risks taken.

Back in 1999, Menolly set a new record by building and selling 840 houses on the Manorfields estate near Clonee, Co Meath, in a matter of months - mainly to first-time house-buyers. It did even better at Wolstan Haven, near Celbridge, Co Kildare, where three-bedroom semis were snapped up for just £125,000.

Thornberry, also on the Dublin side of Clonee, marked a move towards building apartments, but the more typical Menolly development at the time was a mix of houses and apartments, such as nearby Linnetfields, where the company continued with its policy of pitching prices below other developers to achieve high-volume sales.

In July 2000, Menolly forked out more than £25 million for almost 28 acres of land owned by the Guinness family at the edge of Phoenix Park, close to the wooded grounds of Farmleigh, which had just been bought by the Government. The company planned to develop a total of 450 homes on the site, including detached houses.

More controversial was its scheme to rezone 42 acres around Dunboyne Castle in Co Meath, acquired from Kepak Ltd, for a hotel and spa as well as another large housing estate. When Meath county councillors voted in favour of the rezoning in December 2000, local residents who had strongly opposed it asked: "Is democracy dead?".

Four years later, Menolly successfully overcame local objections to win planning permission from An Bord Pleanála for 344 houses and 10 blocks containing 208 apartments in the grounds of the castle - though its plans to build a neighbourhood centre to cater for new residents were turned down by the appeals board.

The only problem with this development is that the 145-bedroom hotel and leisure centre, which extend outwards from the 18th-century mansion built for Lord Dunboyne, now looks out over a large suburban housing estate to the rear, designed by architects and planning consultants Fenton Simons; it is not a happy marriage.

Menolly also built commuter housing at Riverbank and Highlands, in Drogheda, as well as Lakepoint, in Mullingar. But it has concentrated its activity in the Greater Dublin area, building such schemes as Rosedale, off the Navan Road; Ravenswood in Ongar, near Clonsilla; Rockbridge, in Celbridge, Co Kildare, and The Headlands, in Bray, Co Wicklow.

Meanwhile, Séamus Ross successfully fought a claim by former Fianna Fáil TD, the late Liam Lawlor, that he had a 20 per cent stake in a joint venture with Menolly in developing lands at Phibblestown, Castaheany and Allendale, all in west Dublin. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which found that there was no basis for Lawlor's claim.

Ross came to regard Lawlor as "a plague", he said in evidence to the planning tribunal in October 2003. He said he had paid the TD more than £40,000 in two instalments in 1996 to have the postal address of the 550-unit Earlsfort housing estate in west Dublin changed from Clondalkin to Lucan, to make the houses more valuable.

He estimated that they would be worth an extra £5,000 with a more "upmarket" Lucan postal address, netting a total of £2.75 million.

Lawlor even supplied a fake invoice for the first payment he received. But An Post later maintained, following an investigation, that the postal address of the area had always been "Lucan, Co Dublin".

Another venture that turned sour for Ross was his investment of $17 million (€12 million) for a 30 per cent stake in CNG, an Irish-based internet hotel booking agency chaired by Michael Smurfit. But after a much-hyped flotation, the company reported a loss of $9 million (€6.3 million) for the first six months of 2004 and $22 million (€15 million) for the same period in 2005.

In one of the biggest property deals of 2004, Menolly paid €95 million for a 50 per cent stake in 450 acres of land between Baldoyle and Portmarnock. The land, once owned by veteran developer John Byrne, had been acquired in 1996 by Seán Mulryan, of Ballymore Properties, for some £30 million after previous rezoning efforts had failed.

It has since become the focus of frenetic development, with 4,000 homes planned in a joint venture between Ballymore and Menolly.

A further 7,000 homes and a new town centre are to be built further west on land largely assembled over the years by Gerry Gannon, one of the biggest property owners in north Dublin.

Given the volume of its housing production, it made sense for Menolly to set up Alcrete Ltd, a company producing pre-cast concrete components, including walls, to speed up construction. This involved a €25 million investment in a quarry and a factory near Kill, Co Kildare, producing pre-cast units for up to 5,000 new homes per year.

One of Menolly's most ambitious projects is Hansfield, a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) south west of Blanchardstown. Along with Manor Park Homes, the company became impatient over the length of time it was taking An Bord Pleanála to approve the SDZ master plan and sought permission in 2004 for the first phase of 920 homes.

But both Fingal County Council and the appeals board rejected this proposal on the basis that it would be premature pending approval of the master plan. This finally came in January 2006, nearly five years after Hansfield had been identified as a potential SDZ - a mechanism that, ironically, was intended to speed up the planning process.

The single biggest problem for Fingal was its inability to control aspects of the project - such as getting agreement from the ESB to put 110KV power lines underground (which was refused) and from Iarnród Éireann to reopen a section of the disused Navan railway line to serve the area. This, too, is "way down the track".

However, Menolly was able to get on with other projects. In January 2005, it was developing 10 different sites in or around Dublin, mostly in areas with a pent-up demand for housing. One of its more unusual schemes involved 83 luxury houses and apartments at the K Club, where residents were promised a grandstand view of the Ryder Cup.

When it was revealed in September 2006 that Menolly had offered 26 members of South Dublin County Council free tickets to the prestigious golf tournament, the Irish branch of Transparency International - a global organisation fighting corruption in public life - urged all public representatives not to accept such corporate gifts or hospitality.

Government ministers were also told not to accept corporate invitations to attend the Ryder Cup, because the value of such hospitality might exceed the level officially permitted. A Government spokesman said ministers had been "reminded of their responsibilities under the code of conduct for public office holders".

Meanwhile, Ross bought the former Hibernian Hotel, off Upper Baggot Street (once a nurses' home) and invested €15 million in its refurbishment as a 50-bedroom "boutique hotel", the Dylan.

Another Menolly hotel, Mount Hybla, is due to open shortly at Farmleigh Wood, developed on the former Guinness land at the edge of Phoenix Park. Last March, residents of 70 apartments in Farmleigh Wood were warned by Fingal County Council not to drink their tap water after it was found to contain double the legal limit for copper. The discovery was made after one of the residents reported the death of a pet fish. Menolly immediately undertook works to remedy the problem.

Its latest scheme is at Grange Castle, Clondalkin. This will include a 132-bed hotel, leisure centre, creche, local shop, replacement golf clubhouse and 290 residential units on 37 acres adjoining Kilcarbery House, which is a protected structure. A mix of detached four- and five-bed homes, townhouses and apartments is planned.

Inevitably, Ross turned his attention abroad, paying more than €30 million in January 2006 for a nine-acre site on the bank of the Vistula in Warsaw, Poland, occupied by a disused coal-fired power station. The €200 million development is to include up to 800 apartments, 15,000 sq m of office and retail space, and a 160-bedroom hotel.