NEW PUBLICATIONS OUTLINE PLANS TO IMPROVE DELIVERY OF SOCIAL HOMES

Two publications that aim to provide assistance in improvement of the quality, cost-effectiveness and pace of delivery of social homes and mixed-tenure developments have been launched by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

‘A Design Manual for Quality Housing’, and a ‘Review of Pre-Construction Processes’ for social housing construction and mixed tenure projects were presented to Fingal County Council’s Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly and Fingal’s County Architect Fionnuala May at the Fingal HQ in Swords, North County Dublin, by Minister Darragh O’Brien.

The Design Manual for Quality Housing is being sent to all local authorities and Tier-3 Approved Housing Bodies, and it will also be available electronically on the Department’s website. The manual sets out the Government’s plans to improve the quality of social housing and improve delivery of social housing developments. And it also aims to guide local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, and their consultants, on the design of social housing site layouts and the internal layouts of individual social homes.

The Review of Pre-Construction Processes sets out a number of practical actions to streamline approvals and other pre-contract processes, while ensuring that cost effectiveness is being achieved for the taxpayer.

Some of the actions included in the review are:

• De-risking potential delays • Fostering greater use of the single stage approval process • Fast tracking through approval stages • Central online resources • Project management training.

Minister O’Brien said: “The key to our current housing challenges is supply and the speed at which we can scale up supply. Both publications are key elements of Housing for All’s aim of improving the quality and delivery times of social housing developments. They will help make public housing more efficient and cost-effectively designed, and will help shorten the social housing and mixed tenure approvals processes. This is critical given the scale of public housing ambition.