Social and Affordable Housing

Thursday, 25 March 2021

Ceisteanna (77)

Eoin Ó Broin

Ceist:

77. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average all-in cost of SHIP social housing units approved in 2019 and 2020 by local authority in tabular form. [16159/21]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

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 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 2019 and 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.

2019		Construction Costs* (incl abnormals)		Abnormal Costs
	Average Cost Per Unit	Range of Average Costs Per Unit	Average Abnormal Cost Per Unit	Range of Average Abnormal Costs 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

2020**		Construction Costs* (incl abnormals)		Abnormal Costs
	Average Cost Per Unit	Range of Average Costs Per Unit	Average Abnormal Cost Per Unit	Range of Average Abnormal Costs 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 and type of units (e.g. bedroom numbers, apartment/house). Average costs as shown are also affected by the number of projects tendered by the local authorities in the period which, in the case of Dublin City and South Dublin for 2020, was one project per LA.

** 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.