Social and Affordable Housing

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 February 2021

Thursday, 11 February 2021

Ceisteanna (109)

Cian O'Callaghan

Ceist:

109. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average cost to councils for social housing; the range by the lowest to the highest amount spent by each council on social housing in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7642/21]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

I understand the Deputy is referring to the construction of new social homes by local authorities.

As capital funded construction projects by local authorities must, like all publicly-funded construction programmes, comply with the Public Spending Code and Capital Works Management Framework, my Department periodically issues Unit Cost Ceilings (UCCs) for each local authority area, for use as a key benchmark for the development and costing of social housing construction scheme designs at capital appraisal stage. While not a record of actual delivery costs, UCCs are based on an analysis of returned data from tendered social housing schemes over an extended period and updated based on published tender index information as required.

To monitor tender cost trends and to inform the UCCs levels, my Department analyses the tender data for the construction cost element of local authority new build social housing schemes approved under the four-stage approval processes for each unit type, where sufficient information is available to allow such costs to be extrapolated and where the information available is appropriate for comparison purposes.

Outlined in the tables below are average construction costs (incl. VAT) recorded as part of the aforementioned analysis for projects tendered in each of the years 2017 to 2020. I have provided the averages across all local authority areas, in addition to the averages for the four Dublin local authorities and other city based authorities for comparison purposes.

The tables also set out the range of costs that make up this average for each local authority. The range of costs recorded vary, depending on design, type of units (e.g. bedroom numbers, apartment/house); and on the level of abnormal cost requirements for each scheme, such as existing site conditions, demolitions, service diversions and site access requirements. Abnormal costs are also separately identified in the tables below.

2017		Construction Costs* (incl abnormals)				Abnormal Costs
	Average CostPer Unit		Range of AverageCosts Per Unit	Average CostPer Unit		Range of AverageCosts Per Unit
All LAs	185,935		102k - 316k	11,493		1k - 54k
Cork City	N/A		N/A	N/A		N/A
Dublin City	262,043		262k - 262k	11,548		12k - 12k
DLR	231,966		171k - 316k	11,065		1k - 41k
Fingal	172,091		164k - 178k	5,305		4k - 11k
South Dublin	195,547		182k - 220k	5,259		1k - 15k
Galway City	N/A		N/A	N/A		N/A
Limerick	156,163		136k - 279k	5,959		1k - 36k
Waterford	170,415		169k - 179k	8,282		7k - 15k

* Construction Costs as shown, are derived from unit cost analysis and capture the construction cost element only incl abnormals (i.e. not all-in costs). Costs also vary depending on design, type of units (e.g. bedroom numbers, apartment/house).

2018		Construction Costs* (incl abnormals)		Abnormal Costs
	Average CostPer Unit	Range of AverageCosts Per Unit	Average CostPer Unit	Range of AverageCosts Per Unit
All LAs	222,085	121k - 391k	29,376	1k - 105k
Cork City	210,248	194k - 243k	15,551	12k - 41k
Dublin City	357,967	327k - 391k	75,572	51k - 105k
DLR	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fingal	202,830	191k - 250k	19,296	10k - 61k
South Dublin	176,431	176k - 176k	Incl.
Galway City	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Limerick	219,545	163k - 251k	3,391	12k - 12k
Waterford	182,662	183k - 183k	13,865	14k - 14k

* Construction Costs as shown, are derived from unit cost analysis and capture the construction cost element only incl abnormals (i.e. not all-in costs).Costs also vary depending on design, type of units (e.g. bedroom numbers, apartment/house).

2019		Construction Costs* (incl abnormals)		Abnormal Costs
	Average CostPer Unit	Range of AverageCosts Per Unit	Average CostPer Unit	Range of AverageCosts Per Unit
All LAs	239,837	131k - 375k	22,716	4k - 58k
Cork City	241,260	241k - 241k	19,024	19k - 19k
Dublin City	351,564	240k - 375k	38,393	10k - 43k
DLR	271,645	272k - 272k	39,471	39k - 39k
Fingal	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
South Dublin	267,177	257k - 271k	Incl.
Galway City	202,248	198k - 208k	8,006	4k - 11k
Limerick	223,289	198k - 247k	20,817	6k - 35k
Waterford	248,238	248k - 248k	58,074	58k - 58k

* Construction Costs as shown, are derived from unit cost analysis and capture the construction cost element only incl abnormals (i.e. not all-in costs).Costs also vary depending on design, type of units (e.g. bedroom numbers, apartment/house).

2020**		Construction Costs* (incl abnormals)		Abnormal Costs
	Average CostPer Unit	Range of AverageCosts Per Unit	Average CostPer Unit	Range of AverageCosts Per Unit
All LAs	205,111	139k - 308k	27,156	3k - 66k
Cork City	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Dublin City	237,377	237k - 237k	19,138	19k - 19k
DLR	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fingal	308,173	308k - 308k	65,971	66k - 66k
South Dublin	235,622	236k - 236k	Incl.
Galway City	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Limerick	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Waterford	202,213	191k - 248k	31,406	26k - 54k

* Construction Costs as shown, are derived from unit cost analysis and capture the construction cost element only incl abnormals (i.e. not all-in costs).Costs also vary depending on design, type of units (e.g. bedroom numbers, apartment/house).

**Some data on contruction costs for 2020 has yet to be analysed.

The above costs relate to the construction element of the all-in delivery cost. Other items that make up the all-in total include:

- Design/technical fees: Design fees vary from project to project, depending on the location, size and complexity of a scheme (and depending on whether design services are provided by a local authority in-house or via external appointment). As a guideline/indicator, design fee are generally expected to range between 7.5% to 12.5% of construction costs.

- Land cost: Land costs will vary significantly from project to project, depending on location and ownership status (i.e. land costs could vary from existing local authority land at no cost to land purchased at market value).

- Utilities: Connection fees for Irish Water, ESB, gas, etc. As a guideline/indicator, utility connection costs are generally in the order of €7k per unit.

- Other Costs: Other items that make up the all-in delivery cost can include site investigations/ surveys, archaeological requirements, Percent for Art contributions - and will vary from scheme to scheme.

To assist in policy development and to provide evidenced based data, in October 2020, the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, published an ‘Analysis of Social Housing Build Programme’ which examined the social housing build programme over the years 2016 to 2019 and considered issues such as Use of Build Delivery; Type of Units, Cost & Speed of Delivery and Cost Efficiency and Market Interaction. The IGEES analysis noted the range of average costs which highlighted the diversity of costs for delivery of new build units across different developments and locations. The paper is available at the following link: http://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2021/Documents/Budget/Spending%20Review%202020%20-%20Analysis%20of%20Social%20Housing%20Build%20Programme.pdf.

I look forward to working with all stakeholders in delivering on the commitment in the Programme for Government to increase the social housing stock by over 50,000 over the next five years, with an emphasis on new builds, and to ensuring that local authorities are central to delivering housing. Since taking up office, this commitment has been my key priority and focus. This is evidenced in Budget 2021 which provides record funding for housing of €3.3 billion overall.