Lidl Are Building A Massive Amount Of Student Apartments In Dublin

In what is set to be a refreshing break from tradition the next time a herd of diggers are to descend on land owned by German supermarket giant Lidl, it will not be to destroy one of their supermarkets, but to actually get some building done. Lidl are set to develop a multi-use complex in Ballymun which will contain, a supermarket, unsurprisingly and 364 student bed spaces, surprisingly. I won't say that this is the most bizarre news that you'll see today, as I've already made that claim within an earlier article, but I would be lying if I said that when I woke up this morning I was expecting to bring you news that the company attempting to make headway in the student accommodation deadlock would be German supermarket consortium Lidl.

I will be the first to admit that I have precious little knowledge of the building industry, either internationally, or even specifically within Ireland, however surely it can't be common for supermarket chains to turn their hand to building vast residence complexes.

The site, on Balcurris Road in North Quarter, Ballymun, will feature two blocks of student accommodation, containing 364 bed spaces, which will be built to be immediately sold on for a prospective cost of €46 million. There will also be a supermarket and several other retail units and café spaces built too. It's situated just over a kilometre away from DCU so will presumably be targeted at DCU students but is also within easy commuting distance of several other campuses, notably, Trinity and DIT Grangegorman.

Construction has yet to begin, but the complex is expected to be completed in the next few years.

Here's to embracing this brave new world where companies have apparently thrown two fingers to their ostensible remit and launched out into entirely incongruous pursuits. To help pad out the word count of this, here's a few I'd be hoping to see soon:

Jaffa Cakes manufacturing stair-lifts for the elderly.
Adidas to manufacture bespoke aquariums.
Hugo Boss to create equipment for artificially inseminating giraffes.
Lego to make Duplo.
Duplo to make Lego.
Samsung to start making jam.
Lidl to start making student accommodation - oh, sorry.

H/T: Independent.ie