The Irish Times reported this week that Dublin City Council has confirmed the rapid-build housing, due to be completed at Finglas, Darndale, Cherry Orchard, and Drimnagh by the end of 2016, will not be finished until next year.

A tender for the four sites was advertised by Dublin City Council (DCC) last December, with a completion date of June for a total of 131 homes. Last March DCC cancelled the tender as it had received an insufficient number of applicants for competitive tendering. DCC reissued tenders dividing the project into four packages with individual completion dates ranging from October to December this year. Simon Coveney, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, said that the 131 homes would be ready for tenants by this December, but the homes are now due to be completed in the first quarter of 2017.

Previously there were delays in delivering rapid-build homes. 22 houses on Balbutcher Lane in Ballymun should have been finished in December 2015, but families did not move into the houses until May 2016.

Rapid-build homes are a key feature in the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan. Minister Coveney identified the provision of rapid-build housing as being key to solving the housing crisis. He hopes to have 1,500 modular homes provided by 2018.

In the recent issue of Irish building magazine, construction industry experts said prefabricated housing is suitable for delivering social and affordable homes in Ireland. John O’Mahony, Vice President of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Dublin City Architect Ali Grehan and Dr Derek Sinnott Head of Department of the Built Environment at Waterford Institute of Technology gave their views, supporting the suitability of prefabricated housing for Social and Affordable Homes in Ireland, while Dr Samantha Organ, Senior Lecturer in Building Surveying at The University of the West of England, said modern prefabricated housing is deemed the solution for housing shortages and energy efficient housing in Britain.

Prefabricated methods are being championed, but the need for good planning, design, procurement, and scale are required for success.

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Source: http://tinyurl.com/jpao6wn