Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 December 2020
296. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the housing developments in Fingal and Dublin city that made up the estimated cost of council direct construction of social housing in 2019 published by the social housing capital investment programme; and the land cost, professional fees, utility costs, abnormal costs and construction contract costs per unit built, respectively in each case. [39934/20]
View answerThe average costs for the delivery of social homes through the local authority capital construction programme for 2019 are set out in the table following. These averages reflect the full delivery or 'all-in' costs including the costs recouped from my Department through the Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) for construction costs (including site preparation), land cost, design team, legal and professional fee, and utilities. Abnormal costs are generally additional site preparation costs recouped where site conditions required out of the ordinary works to prepare the site for construction.
As averages, it's important to note that a range of dwelling types at various costs are covered. In delivering new social homes under this programme local authorities are cognisant of the need to balance the delivery of a range of new homes to meet the diverse needs of households on their social housing list with value for money considerations.
All project proposals by local authorities are considered by my Department in this context and taking account of the unit cost ceilings for each local authority. Projects delivered in 2019 encompassed a total of 246 new units some of which were delivered in 2018. For completeness and to outline the full costs of the projects these are included in the table following:
*Ballybough Road - costs represent amounts agreed by this Department at Stage 4 Approval in 2017; additional costs were incurred by Dublin City Council for the construction of this projects.
** Priory Hall - costs associated with the 33 Priory Hall Social Housing units are made up of the refurbishment cost apportioned to these 33 unit and should not be considered the total cost of building these units.
