Working together to unlock housing delivery

Housing delivery depends on more than land, planning, and construction. It also depends on the infrastructure that allows homes to be built, connected, and occupied, writes Uisce Éireann Senior Manager Mark Macaulay.

Water and wastewater services are central to that task. Without the right infrastructure in the right place at the right time, housing delivery can slow down or stall.

That is why Uisce Éireann is working closely with local authorities, developers, and the Housing Activation Office (HAO) to help identify the water and wastewater infrastructure needed to support new homes across the country.

Supporting the Housing Activation Office

The Housing Activation Office (HAO) was established by the Government in 2025 to help accelerate housing delivery by identifying and resolving infrastructure constraints that can act as barriers to new housing developments. By bringing together infrastructure providers, local authorities, and state agencies, the Office presented an opportunity to strengthen collaboration and to align infrastructure investment and delivery with housing activation initiatives from the earliest stages.

As a key contributor to the Housing Activation Office, Uisce Éireann has been working with organisations such as Transport Infrastructure Ireland, ESB Networks, the National Transport Authority, and local government to develop a practical approach to cross-sector delivery, demonstrating how all organisations are working more collaboratively to solve delivery challenges.

The Housing Activation Office manages the €1 billion Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund which has identified 82 critical infrastructure projects to support housing development across Ireland. These first approved projects have the potential to directly enable 86,000 new homes, with further longer-term potential to support additional housing delivery. As a secondee to the Housing Activation Office, I am working closely with my colleagues to identify the water and wastewater investment to support these essential projects.

Having worked with Uisce Éireann for 13 years, I have had the privilege of leading teams on a wide range of strategic projects that help shape the delivery of critical water and wastewater infrastructure. It is a very exciting opportunity for me to play a part in addressing one of the biggest challenges of our time, helping enable the delivery of homes across the country. This initiative ensures that state agencies, utilities, and other public bodies are aligned behind a common objective, and that shared sense of purpose is incredibly inspiring. Working alongside committed, like-minded professionals creates enormous opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and shared learning.

Recognising the benefit of collaboration and partnership

Within Uisce Éireann, our CEO and executive team have recognised the benefit this approach brings, and have committed resources from across the organisation, including asset management, infrastructure delivery, connections, and developer services, and forward planning to ensure that water and wastewater requirements are incorporated into housing-enabling infrastructure projects from the outset.

My role is to help connect the work of Uisce Éireann with the priorities of the Housing Activation Office. That means making sure water and wastewater requirements are understood early, built into project planning, and aligned with wider housing delivery timelines. The value of this arrangement lies in creating direct links between organisations, improving communication, accelerating decision-making, and helping both sides develop a shared understanding of delivery challenges and opportunities.

While the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund is funding critical enabling infrastructure, many projects also require complementary investment in water and wastewater services. Across the 82 approved projects, there are varying levels of interaction with Uisce Éireann infrastructure. Some projects require strategic network upgrades, others create opportunities to deliver new local infrastructure alongside road schemes, and some require detailed coordination with Uisce Éireann’s existing growth investment programmes.

Sharing knowledge to help overcome barriers to delivery

A major focus of our work is to develop a shared view across all projects, identifying where each project sits within the delivery programme, so that resources and expertise can be aligned as projects move through the planning, design, procurement, tendering, and construction phases.

The challenge for the teams now is to ensure that project scopes, timelines, investment decisions, and delivery programmes also align. For housing schemes to move from plans on a page to completed homes, water and wastewater needs must be understood early. That early coordination helps avoid delays later and gives local authorities, infrastructure providers, and developers a clearer route to delivery.

One of the key lessons emerging from the work to date is that many challenges are not unique to individual projects. Common themes frequently arise, including questions around project sequencing, scope, approvals processes, funding arrangements, and the interaction between public infrastructure delivery and private sector development. Addressing these issues on a project-by-project basis can be inefficient and can lead to inconsistency. This programme-wide perspective is helping identify common barriers and develop solutions that can support delivery across multiple projects.

Partnership approach supports Ireland’s housing ambitions

As the infrastructure investment programme transitions from project selection into active delivery, close coordination between local authorities, the Housing Activation Office, Uisce Éireann, and other infrastructure providers will become even more important.

The partnership is already demonstrating the value of integrated planning, shared programme management, and early collaboration. For Uisce Éireann, success will not be measured only in kilometres of pipe laid or projects completed. It will be measured by the homes enabled, the communities supported, and the infrastructure put in place for future growth. Through continued collaboration with the Housing Activation Office and other partners, Uisce Éireann is helping to ensure that its infrastructure supports Ireland’s housing ambitions.

Mark Macaulay is a Senior Manager with Uisce Éireann. He has been seconded to the Housing Activation Office (HAO) within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

W: www.water.ie