Housing Schemes

Tuesday, 28 February 2023

Ceisteanna (278)

Eoin Ó Broin

Ceist:

278. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average cost of new build SHIP construction social housing units by local authority for 2020, 2021 and 2022. [9753/23]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Darragh O'Brien)

My Department assesses, approves and records local authority social housing delivery on a project basis. As SHIP-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 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 are updated based on published tender index information. To monitor tender cost trends and to inform the UCC levels, my Department analyses the tender data for the construction cost element of new build schemes approved under the SHIP and CAS four-stage processes.

Outlined in the tables below are average construction costs per unit (incl. VAT) for each local authority, recorded as part of the aforementioned analysis for projects tendered in the years 2020 to 2022. The tables also set out the range of average unit costs across different projects. The range of costs recorded vary, depending on design, mix of unit types (e.g. bedroom numbers, apartment/house); and on the level of abnormal requirements for each scheme, for instance site conditions, demolitions, service diversions, site access requirements, etc. Average abnormal costs are also separately identified in the below tables.

2020		Construction Costs (incl. abnormals)	Abnormal Costs
	Average Cost Per Unit	Range of Costs per Unit	Average Cost Per Unit
Carlow	160,010	160k - 160k	-
Cavan	171,281	141k - 182k	9,322
Clare	211,204	187k - 222k	37,939
Cork City	-	-	-
Cork County	212,373	180k - 232k	31,732
Donegal	211,942	208k - 213k	37,394
Dublin City	237,377	237k - 237k	19,138
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown	252,308	252k - 252k	29,736
Fingal	308,173	308k - 308k	65,971
Galway City	-	-	-
Galway County	210,668	190k - 244k	32,223
Kerry	190,458	175k - 226k	23,816
Kildare	-	-	-
Kilkenny	178,891	169k - 189k	28,807
Laois	198,769	169k - 227k	23,233
Leitrim	-	-	-
Limerick City	-	-	-
Longford	206,282	139k - 274k	14,452
Louth	244,460	244k - 244k	6,460
Mayo	214,969	215k - 215k	7,239
Meath	190,450	190k - 190k	35,442
Monaghan	-	-	-
Offaly	172,719	173k - 173k	18,833
Roscommon	157,554	152k - 168k	6,808
Sligo	-	-	-
South Dublin	238,312	236k - 242k	9,532
Tipperary	192,071	142k - 213k	28,105
Waterford City	202,213	191k - 248k	31,406
Westmeath	227,764	228k - 228k	29,858
Wexford	198,316	194k - 201k	28,668
Wicklow	209,397	184k - 233k	24,873

2021		Construction Costs (incl. abnormals)	Abnormal Costs
	Average Cost Per Unit	Range of Costs per Unit	Average Cost Per Unit
Carlow	173,891	162k - 211k	-
Cavan	199,313	194k - 221k	41,778
Clare	208,300	208k - 208k	40,241
Cork City	267,998	268k - 268k	36,482
Cork County	204,670	192k - 240k	18,826
Donegal	189,986	190k - 190k	33,572
Dublin City	328,166	328k - 328k	35,403
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown	-	-	-
Fingal	285,599	286k - 286k	35,088
Galway City	302,336	302k - 302k	40,528
Galway County	187,313	177k - 205k	24,026
Kerry	195,565	186k - 206k	21,312
Kildare	-	-	-
Kilkenny	225,484	192k - 234k	37,202
Laois	-	-	-
Leitrim	223,698	217k - 232k	30,103
Limerick City	329,790	235k - 359k	29,675
Longford	-	-	-
Louth	-	-	-
Mayo	208,154	192k - 283k	22,881
Meath	218,297	218k - 218k	30,350
Monaghan	254,505	255k - 255k	12,822
Offaly	249,236	207k - 316k	28,407
Roscommon	-	-	-
Sligo	188,559	189k - 189k	7,317
South Dublin	-	-	-
Tipperary	217,399	177k - 248k	33,377
Waterford City	273,493	264k - 276k	52,315
Westmeath	232,428	232k - 232k	19,366
Wexford	254,185	254k - 254k	58,247
Wicklow	228,912	203k - 308k	10,747

2022		Construction Costs (incl. abnormals)	Abnormal Costs
	Average Cost Per Unit	Range of Costs per Unit	Average Cost Per Unit
Carlow	-	-	-
Cavan	-	-	-
Clare	289,213	289k - 289k	66,834
Cork City	298,657	244k - 340k	49,475
Cork County	292,865	293k - 293k	62,088
Donegal	209,107	191k - 237k	15,729
Dublin City	386,391	381k - 390k	46,177
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown	311,235	257k - 325k	26,944
Fingal	242,003	242k - 242k	18,172
Galway City	-	-	-
Galway County	229,886	224k - 287k	17,299
Kerry	283,388	283k - 283k	31,091
Kildare	317,175	317k - 317k	30,045
Kilkenny	340,559	341k - 341k	47,678
Laois	-	-	-
Leitrim	-	-	-
Limerick City	-	-	-
Longford	236,571	237k - 237k	23,758
Louth	315,619	298k - 329k	35,794
Mayo	267,041	249k - 319k	42,355
Meath	304,398	302k - 316k	23,252
Monaghan	248,656	249k - 249k	33,894
Offaly	263,567	264k - 264k	24,589
Roscommon	194,389	180k - 213k	17,689
Sligo	242,150	206k - 301k	24,728
South Dublin	356,789	327k - 365k	35,884
Tipperary	-	-	-
Waterford City	302,349	302k - 302k	49,622
Westmeath	-	-	-
Wexford	-	-	-
Wicklow	320,747	251k - 338k	41,475

While the average construction costs per unit (incl. VAT) are shown in the above tables, there are other items that make up the all-in delivery costs for such projects, including:

- 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 can vary significantly from project to project, depending on location and ownership status (e.g. land costs could vary from local authority owned land with little or no cost to land acquired at market value);

- Utilities: This includes 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 might make up the all-in delivery cost can include site investigations/surveys, archaeological requirements and Percent for Art contributions and they will vary from scheme to scheme.

In advancing social housing projects, a range of factors can impact on the costs for individual projects. Project-specific issues will always arise and can impact on how a project can be advanced and the costs for same. These factors are covered in the regular engagement that happens between my Department and local authorities which is focussed on facilitating the earliest possible delivery of new social homes.