Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 March 2005
15 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Finance the anticipated costs, in terms of acquiring and equipping premises and other related costs, at the latest date for which figures are available, of the original decentralisation programme announced in budget 2004 and the slimmed down version announced in December 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7191/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government's decentralisation programme involves some 10,500 civil and public service jobs in more than 56 locations. As I have said on a number of occasions the Government is committed to the full implementation of the programme.
My office has been tasked with procurement of development sites in the designated locations and the procurement of accommodation solutions to the office and facility requirements of the Departments and agencies involved.
The Office of Public Works, having evaluated in excess of 700 proposed property solutions in relation to the decentralisation programme scheduled for the various locations around the country has made significant progress in sourcing possible sites at the locations concerned.
The prevailing property market conditions in each geographical area will have a significant bearing on the cost of acquiring sites. As the acquisition process is still in progress, it is not possible at this stage to provide a precise estimate of the cost of the site acquisition programme. However, for working purposes only, an indicative figure of €75 million to €100 million is being used by the OPW.
As the Deputy will be aware, the decentralisation implementation group, DIG, announced the names of the Departments and organisations selected to move in the first phase of the programme on the 24 November 2004. A further report from the group on the procurement and financial issues relating to property was also published on the 24 November 2004.
The next stage in the decentralisation process will focus on the construction of office accommodation on the sites being procured by OPW. In line with the DIG report on procurement the OPW advertised for expressions of interest in the first 15 design-build projects in December 2004. A very significant response was received and the submissions are currently being evaluated.
In relation to the public private partnership approach recommended by the DIG my office has been developing a comprehensive risk-adjusted costing of project elements to measure the value-for-money of future PPP bids.
It is anticipated that, in the vast majority of cases, the accommodation facilities will be provided by the construction of new office buildings and cost estimation can be approached on that basis. However, in advance of actual market testing of any procurement methodology, it is possible, at this time, only to assign the most general measurements of cost to such a large-scale, diverse and complex programme.
It is estimated that approximately 210,000 sq. m.— 2.26 million sq. ft.— of office space will be required to accommodate the total numbers included in the programme. Current industry cost norms in respect of commercial offices would indicate an average build-cost to fit-out standard, in the range of €1,450 per square metre to €2,000 per square metre. Such figures exclude VAT, professional fees and inflation. In addition the cost of equipping the accommodation to standard office equipment levels could be estimated at circa €4,000 per person. This would exclude the cost of information and communication technology and specialised equipment requirements. Such general measurements of cost do not include specialised facility and equipment requirements and other variables which would arise from the spread of possible procurement methodologies. In addition general cost indicators of this type show a snapshot in time.
It is self-evident that a firmer scale of costs for the decentralisation programme will only emerge on foot of actual cost proposals being received from the market. Nevertheless, we can clearly anticipate that, generally-speaking, the cost of providing accommodation infrastructure in provincial locations compared to central Dublin locations should yield considerable cost savings to the State over time in terms of site costs, capital build costs and indeed maintenance costs.
