Minister for Housing James Browne pulled the plug on the bundle of six housing schemes just before construction began in June of this year, citing value-for-money concerns.
However, the eleventh-hour intervention stalled the projects, which would provide 486 homes in total, by well over a year, according to updated timelines provided by local authorities.
Construction is now set to begin on the sites up to 18 months late, with all but one of the schemes now due to begin construction towards the end of 2026.
A spokesperson for Dublin City Council (DCC), who are handling three schemes, said it is now moving to the contractor procurement stage for each, with works commencing in late 2026.
These projects consist of 68 homes on the Ready Mix site on East Wall Road, 93 homes for elderly people on Shangan Road, and 83 homes on Collins Avenue.
A spokesperson for Kildare County Council (KCC) said the 73-home scheme in Ardrew, also from PPP bundle 3, would be proceeding to construction at the same time as the schemes in Dublin.
The three DCC sites and one KCC site, they said, would progress together under a single design and build project known as ‘Project Barrow’.
Design and build contracts are a development method whereby one contractor is responsible for both the design and construction aspects of a project. The aim is to simplify development and quicken the pace of delivery.
Sligo County Council (SCC) is also progressing their 63-home Rathellen scheme in Finisklin, which was in Bundle 3, via a design and build contract.
“SCC estimate that the scheme will complete in 2028, subject to a smooth procurement process and progress of works on site,” a spokesperson said, adding that they hoped for the works contract to be awarded in quarter four of next year.
In Wicklow, the council said they would now undertake the tendering and construction of their Blessington 106-home Burgage More scheme from Bundle 3 in house.
Works will commence on site slightly earlier than the other projects, in the third quarter of next year, with a projected 18-month construction period.
Sinn Féin spokesperson for housing, Eoin Ó Broin, said the delays were “very long” considering the sites all had been awarded planning permission.
“I’d be really intrigued to find out why, because if you have planning permission, then the post-planning design work wouldn’t take you that long,” he said, suggesting that the building contractors may have lined up other work when news of the delay came.
The Department of Housing said the decision not to proceed with PPP Bundle 3 was “not taken lightly.”
“It was driven by concerns over the overall cost of the project, which, upon review, was deemed to be too high to represent the most efficient use of public funds,” a spokesperson said.
Mr Browne said earlier this year that he could not disclose the cost of the abandoned original contract, but that he would “not blindly sign off at any price for social homes”.
“These homes were frankly at an astronomical price,” he added.
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