Just as US hotel giant Starwood Hotels is to announce plans to turn the Carton estate in Co Kildare into a world-class hotel and country club, Michael Smurfit's K Club has got planning permission for another 60 apartments on the estate. There will be a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units in a courtyard setting in what was once the walled garden.

The last apartments built at the K Club were a steal at prices from £197,000 but this time around the Smurfit organisation won't be caught by a rising market. Though development work is due to start in the next few weeks, the prices are unlikely to be set until the scheme is well advanced. Similarly, the group has not yet decided whether to build 35 houses it has permission for, or sell on the sites to individual buyers. The sites are on the edge of the planned new 18-hole course which is being designed by Arnold Palmer. It will be used by members when the main course is taken out of commission in the run up to the Ryder Cup in 2005.