Following a major investment from TPG Real Estate and a rebrand, Evara (formerly Quintain Ireland) aims to ramp up housing delivery to 1,500 homes annually by 2027. CEO Michael Hynes and Isabelle Gallagher, Head of Development, speak with ROBBIE COUSINS about the company’s growth strategy and solutions to Ireland’s housing crisis.
In February of this year, Quintain Ireland, the country’s largest privately owned residential developer, announced that it was rebranding to Evara. The rebrand followed TPG Real Estate’s strategic partnership with Quintain Ireland’s management to acquire the homebuilder from its original shareholder, Lone Star, in August 2024.
The investment will support the next stage of the homebuilder’s growth and evolution as it seeks to accelerate its housing delivery to reach an output target of 1,500 homes a year.
Although only founded five years ago, Evara has been delivering an average of 650 new homes a year since 2023, has a landbank with the potential for a further 7,700 homes and is close to employing 120 people, double the number employed 12 months ago.
Evara CEO Michael Hynes and the senior executive team have mapped out a plan that will see the company continue to grow at a similar if not greater rate over the next 18 months with the support of TPG, which he describes as a transformational investor, here for the medium to long term and looking to help address the problems that exist in the Irish housing sector.
Opening our conversation, Michael Hynes reflects on what was a very exciting 2024 for Evara on two fronts.
He comments, “2024 was a really big year for Evara, on two fronts, in particular. One was operations and the scale of what we delivered, and the second was securing a new shareholder.
“On the completions front, we had been building an average of around 650 homes over the two years prior to 2024. Last year, we had a small reduction in completions to 600 units, with a total gross development value (GDP) of €300m.
“Moving forward in 2025, we’re on target to build close to 1,000 units this year, and our ambition is to achieve 1,500 units per annum. With over 2,000 units currently under construction, we are confident of getting to 1,500 units by 2027.
“Looking back on 2024, achieving 600 housing completions meant we were still the largest private house builder by completions.”
He adds, “One of the biggest issues in the market at the moment is securing capital. The Department of Finance says that approximately €21bn a year is needed to build 50,000 homes. They see only €4bn of this coming from state funds. So, approximately €17bn has to come from the private market.
“Evara became one of the first housebuilders in the country to change shareholder and secure equity capital at scale for house building with the TPG investment last year. TPG are a transformational investor with the goal of leaving a company in which they invest in a better strategic position. They are a growth-oriented investor and are a great company to partner with from a process perspective, which was evident from an early stage of our engagement. They will provide the capital necessary to continue to grow the business. So, securing TPG’s investment could be seen as a bigger achievement for us than our scale of output last year.”
Evara Building Communities
Isabelle Gallagher characterises Evara as a company dedicated to building “integrated communities at scale”. Elaborating on this, she states, “We see Evara as a business that builds communities and towns, as opposed to housing estates. This is an essential part of our identity.”
Isabelle Gallagher emphasises Evara’s comprehensive approach, explaining, “Evara looks at the wider picture because we have significant landbanks in key areas that can accommodate housing at a scale that supports this objective rather than having a collection of scattered individual sites. This allows us the creativity to work out from a master planning perspective, creating sustainable towns of interconnected spaces.”
She further highlights Evara’s long-term perspective: “We plan from a cross-generational perspective. We consider developments in terms of how they might evolve long after we’ve moved on and the original homeowners and occupants have moved on. We want Evara developments to stand the test of time. We consider green spaces, the overall flow of the development, adjacency to public transport, and how the road network is designed, including room for cycle tracks and off-road paths, as well as all of the amenities that are going to be needed, such as community centres, parks and recreational space, retail, creches, and so on. We determine the right mix of unit types to ensure that people from all generations can live and thrive together.”
Reflecting on Evara’s accomplishments, Gallagher notes, “We’re proud of what our people have achieved up to now across our landbanks in Adamstown, Portmarnock and Cherrywood, and we still have quite a lot to deliver through our placemaking. Much of what we do is predefined as the land in question is in a Strategic Development Zone. But we aim to create safe and accessible communities for all, making us unique as a business that builds modern, sustainable communities.”
Infrastructure Deficits
Addressing the external challenges facing Evara, Isabelle Gallagher highlights the significant infrastructure deficits confronting housebuilders in Ireland. She emphatically states, “We see the infrastructure deficit as one of Ireland’s biggest threats to housing. It’s not just about water infrastructure, there are also energy, roads and public transport challenges. What we find surprising is that the issue is not really discussed much outside of the industry. You often hear people talk about planning, and people outside the industry understand there are planning problems. But the real problem is the lack of, and barriers to, new infrastructure. We were happy to see this issue referenced in the Programme for Government, and the government has intentions of setting up a task force to look at how it can be addressed. We would welcome such a body.”
Expanding on the need for proactive infrastructure planning, Michael Hynes adds, “We need to be planning now for the infrastructure needed beyond 2030 and further ahead. The industry doesn’t want to find itself down the road having achieved a delivery rate of 60,000 homes per annum, then one year coming to a sudden drop back to 20,000 or 30,000 homes because the infrastructure needed hasn’t been delivered.”
Evara’s Short-Term Land Acquisition Plan
With TPG now as a shareholder, Michael Hynes outlines Evara’s ambitions for immediate expansion, stating, “At the moment, our landbank is at around 7,700 unit capacity, over 60% of that is planning permitted, so we have a very clear roadway to commencing on-site and getting to our target number of 1,500 housing completions per annum by 2027. We currently have over 2,000 units under construction.”
Hynes identifies three key areas of focus for the next 18 months.
Firstly, regarding the team, he emphasises, “It’s essential as our business is doubling in size that we hire the right people to match the company’s growth ambition. But it’s not just about hiring and making sure your business sizes up. We also have to retain the talent that we have and have developed and identify rising stars in the business so that they stay with us.”
Secondly, Hynes highlights the importance of efficiency: “The second key area is innovation and improving our processes. It’s really important as we move towards delivering 1,500 units a year. Not many companies in Ireland have ever got to that level of scale, never mind trying to do it every year into the long term. Having looked at housebuilders across Europe, the key to success is having good processes in place and innovating them all the time. Standardising our house types further, for example, and making them well space planned in terms of space and of an efficient size is essential. This also applies to apartment designs to make sure that we develop apartments for living, but also ensuring that we’re not wasting space and keeping costs to a minimum. As a business, we are moving towards 120 people who will be on over 10 sites at once. Standardising our internal processes around planning and costs and improving our relationships and frameworks with supply chains is pivotal to our future success. If we can get value for scale, we can deliver more affordable housing to market.”
According to Michael Hynes, the third and most significant element is acquisitions. He explains, “With TPG as a new shareholder, we have spent the past month meeting with the biggest land agents around town, advising them that we will be looking to deliver all of our 7,700 landbank units over the next five years. That means that we’ll be looking to replace our 7,700-unit landbank over the next three years to have sufficient land to continue building at scale.
“Land acquisition is the biggest activity happening in the business right now. We’re looking at the greater Dublin area. Our preference is for sites with the potential for 500+ units. We’d love sites of 1000+, but there are not too many of those due to the fractured ownership of land in Ireland. We don’t believe there are too many companies buying land in Ireland at the moment because there simply isn’t a huge amount of capital. If we are successful in acquiring land, it is because we have the capital in place to do it, and we can move quickly.”
He elaborates on Evara’s land acquisition strategy: “Our ideal would be to have 8,000 sites on our books at any one time. Fifty per cent of that should be planning permitted or close to it to provide certainty to our pipeline. We think another 20% should be zoned and capable of achieving planning within three years, the next 20% should be zoned but might have some infrastructure or ownership challenges that could mean it could be four to five years to get planning underlined, and the final 10% of the book can be unzoned. As a developer business, we also have a responsibility to bring unzoned land through to zoned land to make sure it’s the right land coming through.”
Concluding on this crucial objective, Michael Hynes comments, “Replacing the entire landbank that we have today and getting the new land and infrastructure is the biggest goal we have for the next 18 to 24 months.”
Government housing targets
Isabelle Gallagher expresses cautious optimism about government intentions to address obstacles to housing delivery, emphasising the need for clearer communication and inclusive dialogue.
She states, “There are a few signals from the government that we like, such as a housing supply task force, which they say will open up infrastructure and might help join the communications gaps between the local authorities, infrastructure providers and housebuilders. We would like to see private sector representation on that task force because I think the difficulties experienced in the private sector are sometimes not translated well into the public sector.”
Gallagher stresses the importance of the government enabling industry capacity and fostering a more attractive environment for investment. She explains, “In terms of unlocking capacity and creating conditions for investment, zoning is a big issue. Everyone may talk about planning, but zoning is the bigger issue coming down the tracks. The government is saying the right things about zoning now that the new National Planning Framework is coming through and the numbers are being updated for housing output. Local authorities are being asked to look at their own jurisdictions and see what should be zoned. But they need to get over the fear about zoning too much land. When you look at all the other constraints in the system, how could we ever have too much land zoned? It is the first point of a long process.”
Affordable And Social Housing
Later this year, Evara will complete the single largest scheme the Land Development Agency (LDA) will take to date with The Irons Building (392 apartments) in Adamstown. Evara is also on the Project Tosaigh Two framework.
Michael Hynes states, “Our relationship with the LDA, approved housing bodies (AHBs), local authorities, and the state’s other housing agencies is excellent, and we look forward to continuing to work with them.”
Isabelle Gallagher concurs but notes, “Frustration for all stakeholders with the bureaucracy involved with some government schemes.
“Regarding social and affordable housing funding,” she explains, “A certain amount of funding is announced every year in the Budget. But it’s unclear how much of that has been pre-allocated, when it will be allocated, and if it is enough.
“For example, we might agree on a price with an AHB seeking to take a block of apartments. This is lodged for approval with the Department, and we could wait up to six months to find out if approval is granted. If successful, it next goes to the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) for a second round of funding approval. If the project clears these two phases and is approved, there can be a further delay in getting through the HFA legal documentation process. The HFA has just one legal practice to do all the work.”
She adds, “By the end of the process, a year may have passed, with much time and money expended by all stakeholders. We then have a contractor who is expected to hold their tender price for 12 months, which is impossible. Developers are ending up having to start on-site at risk, hoping they get the approval and the funding comes through because their contractor simply won’t be able to hold their price.”
She also says: “This whole situation could be easily resolved by showing what funding is available at the start and streamlining the process. If funding isn’t available, fine, we can look for an alternative solution with the AHB.”
ESG
Working with TPG, Evara has been reviewing its ESG plans and what it can achieve over the next 18 months.
Michael Hynes explains, “We’ve completed a full analysis of our business under three core principles: People, Places and Planet. Under these headings, we’ve identified what we’re doing right from a sustainability perspective. Now, we’re looking to improve on that year by year.”
Providing an example of their environmental plans, Hynes mentions, “The big challenge for all house builders is addressing our carbon footprint. We’re committed to measuring our carbon footprint by the end of 2025. This is a huge task because we have to look at not just our own carbon footprint as a business but the carbon footprint of everything that happens on our sites, from contractor to subcontractor perspective, and all of the materials, logistics, accessibility and diversity of people on our sites.”
Outlining the collaborative approach required, Hynes adds, “To achieve this, we need huge buy-in from our supply chains and design teams. The majority have committed to working with us, and by the end of the year, we will have completed the measurement process. We’ll then put targets in place to reduce our carbon footprint as we go forward.”
Recruitment at Evara
Isabelle Gallagher emphasises Evara’s rapid expansion in its initial five years, which was supported by a highly experienced team. She explains the company’s new focus on cultivating the next generation of talent: “Recruiting and retaining the right people is essential to us. Bringing younger people into the businesses is very much part of that, and growing them organically through the business.”
Gallagher elaborates on this strategic shift: “To develop at such a fast pace over our first five years, we needed a senior, experienced team in place. We are now looking to bring in younger professionals. We’re looking for people from different professional backgrounds. We have planners, engineers, and surveyors. We have architects, salespeople, legal people and creative people. We have quite a diverse range of skills across the business. Bringing in younger people will help us grow, and we will nurture the right talent through the Evara journey. It is good to get people when they’re starting out and full of enthusiasm, and we can train them and equip them to develop long-lasting careers with us.”
She also highlights Evara’s commitment to diversity, noting, “From a diversity perspective, excluding Michael, our CEO, our executive committee is 50/50 men and women, so we are evenly balanced, which is unique in this industry. My team is about 60% women, so we have quite a strong track record in attracting women into the workplace, and we plan to continue that.”
She mentions a new initiative in Evara’s construction division, adding, “More recently, we have been building a self-delivery construction team. We plan to bring people through from apprenticeship level onwards in this. This is part of our 18-month plan to bring that through.”
In conclusion
Michael Hynes and Isabelle Gallagher state that Ireland’s housing crisis will continue to escalate if the shortfall in supply is not addressed. They say this can only be addressed by reducing barriers to delivery and making the country more attractive for capital investment.
Michael Hynes comments, “In fairness, the Programme for Government is ambitious. We’re excited that the government is targeting the delivery of 300,000 homes by 2030. They appear to be trying to put as much resources towards it as possible. We met the new housing minister, who appears to understand the issues. Now we’re asking, having listened to stakeholders, public and private, when will they bring in the necessary policies. If they have heard what is being said and act accordingly, there’s a chance of getting those 300,000 units built. But it will be a real challenge.”
Isabelle Gallagher points to the sector’s commitment to the task ahead, adding, “When we met the minister, we pointed out that there is a highly motivated sector here. Most people who work in construction and house building are driven by a passion for what they do. We do it because we love it, and we know what is required to fix the problem. They just need to remove the barriers to delivery.”
Michael Hynes highlights the potential for attracting investment, “Evara managed to secure capital from a highly skilled private equity firm that is here to help solve the problems in the housing sector in the medium to long term. Irish companies can attract good capital to Ireland. Our economy is one of the best-performing in Europe, with appealing demographics. There is a housing crisis, but there is also an opportunity, and more capital needs to be brought in to solve that crisis.”
Michael Hynes concludes by urging the government to streamline processes, saying, “The government needs to make the process of delivering housing simpler, whether that is fixing the planning process, reviewing the cost of building apartments or tweaking the supply side,” he concludes.
Source constructionnews.ie