Primary Health Properties aims to deliver three Irish healthcare facilities in the next 12 months
The Birr primary care centre (PCC) is expected to be delivered by the middle of this year, followed by Castlebar by the end of the year, while the Youghal project is scheduled for early 2027.The developments come as the healthcare property investor expands its footprint in Ireland, where it owns 28 assets valued at £341m (€391m), including the three projects under construction.Alan O’Connell, the managing director of Axis PHP, said the company expects to deliver multiple projects in Ireland in the near term.“We’ll have the extension to Castlebar PCC completed by the end of the year. We also have Birr PCC completed probably in the middle of this year,” Mr O’Connell said.The Castlebar development includes a major extension to an existing facility, aimed at expanding capacity and delivering additional community-based healthcare services.Ireland remains a key growth market for the group, with the business increasing in scale following its acquisition of Assura – a developer of healthcare facilities across the UK.“We [had assets worth] €300m in Ireland before the Assura transaction. Now I think we’re closer to €400m and plan to double the size of the business in Ireland if we can,” PHP chief executive Mark Davies said.The vast majority of the portfolio is leased by HSEPHP has said it aims to grow Ireland’s share of its overall portfolio from around 6pc currently to about 15pc.The company is also progressing additional development opportunities in the market, with a pipeline of forward-funded Irish projects valued at around €60m.Irish assets delivered strong rental growth during the year, with rent review uplifts of 20.9pc, driven by inflation-linked leases.Mr O’Connell said this reflects the structure of leases in the market.“All of our properties in Ireland are inflation linked. The vast majority of the portfolio is leased by HSE, that’s got review uplifts every five years. Some of that rent review is capturing some of the inflation that we’ve had over the past five years,” he said.The update on Ireland came as PHP reported a strong set of full-year results following its £1.6bn acquisition of Assura, which has more than doubled the size of the business.The group’s property portfolio now stands at £6bn, with an annual contracted rent roll of £342m. Net rental income rose by 49pc to £230m, while adjusted earnings increased by 41pc to £131m.Rental growth across the group reached 3.2pc in 2025, supported by rent reviews with further increases recorded in early 2026, it said.The company said its income remains largely government-backed, with the majority of rent funded by public healthcare systems in the UK and Ireland.Mr Davies said this underpins the resilience of the business amid global uncertainty, including geopolitical tensions and volatility in oil prices linked to the conflict involving Iran.“Between 80pc and 90pc of our income is state backed, so it’s paid for by the UK and Irish government,” he said.“It’s impossible to ignore it, because it has inflationary impacts and interest rate impacts that affect us all, but fundamentally we operate in an asset class which is hugely defensive and highly resilient.”
