REPORT SHOWS COUNCIL CONSTRUCTION ‘MORE EXPENSIVE’ THAN PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT
According to a new council report, social and affordable homes are likely to be “considerably more expensive” at Dublin City Council’s Oscar Traynor Road site if built by the council instead of a private developer. Plans for more than 850 homes at the Santry site collapsed last November following the refusal of councillors to approve a deal with developer Glenveagh Homes. The deal would have seen 428 sold privately by Glenveagh, 253 bought by the council for social housing and 172 sold to low- and middle-income workers qualifying for the upcoming affordable purchase scheme. Councillors voted 48 to 14 against the deal and instead agreed the site should be developed directly by the council for public housing.
However, in a report to councillors the council’s head of housing Brendan Kenny said it “cannot deliver the value for money in construction that the private can do, even where there are no land costs”. The council would have been paying an average of €390,000 for the social and affordable housing at Oscar Traynor Road, while the average cost of directly built council homes is €430,000, he said. “It is likely that the social and affordable homes will be considerably more expensive in any new plan than what was on offer from the Glenveagh proposal.”
He added that “no amount of wishful thinking or fanciful fast tracking can circumvent design requirements, statutory procurement procedures, planning, compliance with cost spending code, cost benefit analysis, necessary approvals, consultation and opposition all of which would be necessary in the formulation of a brand new plan and process.”
Denise Maguire Editor of Irish Construction Industry Magazine