Where Dublin is building — commencement notices by local electoral area, 12 months

In the 12 months to 12 September 2026 the four Dublin building control authorities recorded 3,381 commencement notices, and 3,366 of them can be placed in one of the 31 local electoral areas by their address. Pembroke — Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Sandymount, Ringsend — led with 204. Tallaght South had 23. The top five electoral areas took 28% of the notices between them, and the list is not the one the planning register would predict.

What a commencement notice is

A permission is a promise; a commencement notice is the first thing that costs money. Part II of the Building Control Regulations 1997 (SI 496/1997) requires anyone starting works to which the Building Regulations apply — a new building, an extension over 40 m², a material alteration or a change of use — to lodge a notice with the building control authority not less than 14 and not more than 28 days before the works start. Since 1 March 2014 the notice goes on the Building Control Management System with the design certifier, the assigned certifier and the inspection plan attached, unless the owner of a one-off house or a domestic extension opts out under SI 365/2015, in which case a shorter notice is lodged.

The notice is the point at which a permission stops being a paper asset. Section 40 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 gives a permission five years to be commenced; the notice is the evidence it was. Our commencements layer matches each notice to a permission on the register where the address allows, and the extension-of-duration guide covers what happens when the five years run out without one.

We count notices. The Department of Housing's commencement statistics count residential units, which is a different number: one notice at Clonburris can cover 200 houses and one in Sandymount a single attic. Read the ranking as "where building work is starting", not "where homes are being built".

The ranking

The four councils split 1,292 notices to Dublin City, 836 to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, 751 to Fingal and 502 to South Dublin. Within them, the pattern is the same one the extension guide describes: the electoral areas at the top — Pembroke, Clontarf, Dún Laoghaire, Howth-Malahide, Dundrum, Stillorgan — are the areas of older, larger, owner-occupied houses where a 45 m² rear extension or a full-house renovation generates a notice each. The areas at the bottom — Tallaght South, Ongar, Palmerstown-Fonthill — are newer, denser, and more often rented, and a renovation there rarely crosses the 40 m² line that requires a notice.

The estate areas are the exception that proves it. Clondalkin's count is carried by a handful of notices at Clonburris and Kilcarbery that each cover a phase of hundreds of homes; the estate explainers read them one by one.

The shape of the year

The monthly count rose through the year: 201 notices in September 2025, 298 in October, a dip to 175 in December, then 231 in January 2026, 309 in March and a run above 300 a month from May through August. The 2024 building control opt-out and the July 2026 exemption changes do not explain a rise that starts in January; our reading is that it is the ordinary seasonality of domestic works — designed over the winter, started after Easter — sitting on top of a real increase in large-scheme starts in the west of the county.

The first-hand observation from matching notices to permissions is the share that match nothing. A notice for an extension that was exempted development has no permission to match, and that is correct; a notice for a new house on a site with no permission on the register is the one to read twice. The address report shows both cases.

What to do with it

If you are buying, a notice next door is a building site for the next 18 months, and the sale-agreed checklist puts it at number four. If you are a builder, the areas at the top of the table are where the domestic work is, and the areas at the bottom are where the competition is not. If you are a councillor, the gap between Pembroke and Tallaght South is the gap between where the exemption is used and where it is not, and it is worth asking why.

Frequently asked questions

What is a commencement notice?

A notice lodged on the Building Control Management System between 14 and 28 days before starting any works to which the Building Regulations apply, under Part II of the Building Control Regulations 1997. It is the public record that a permission has been acted on.

Which part of Dublin has the most construction starting?

By commencement notices in the last 12 months, Pembroke (204), then Clontarf and Dún Laoghaire (185 each), Howth-Malahide (179) and the South East Inner City (176). The four councils together recorded 3,381.

Does a commencement notice mean planning permission was granted?

Not necessarily. Exempted development — an extension within the 45 m² limit, for instance — needs a notice but no permission. A notice for a new building with no permission on the register is a question for the council.

Where can I see commencement notices near me?

The BCMS public register lists them by authority. Our map's commencements layer places each notice and matches it to a permission where the address allows; the address report shows any within a chosen radius.

The extension-of-duration guide covers the five-year life a commencement preserves; the Cherrywood and Clonburris explainers read the large-scheme notices. See the notices on the map in the Explorer at Sandymount, or open the Pembroke place page and the Dublin City Council place page.

Figures from the BCMS feed on 12 September 2026 (live callouts refresh hourly); law checked 12 September 2026. Check with the council or a planning consultant before relying on this.