Council tender for social housing lands

Cavan County Council is actively seeking to purchase houses and available land throughout the county for the purposes of social housing.

The closing date for submissions for the published tender is next week, January 24, as the Council prepares itself for meeting Government-led increased demand for social housing provision.
Interested parties are invited to supply development sites or completed housing schemes fit for purpose, with no submission greater than €5 million.
According to the published tender, housing schemes should have a minimum size of five dwellings, depending on location, and up to a maximum of 40 dwellings. Smaller numbers may be considered as long as they comply with the conditions outlined by the planning permission, local authority Development Plan and the housing guidelines issued by the Department of Housing.
 

Target

With a target to provide 65 social houses in 2018, Council CEO Tommy Ryan told The Anglo-Celt this week: “It’s about seeking expressions, from landowners and developer, for suitable lands to accommodate that.”
He further explained: “The council has a target to meet housing demand in the county for social housing. One of the aspects of looking to do that is getting developers with land, with either developments carried out, turn-key or with plans to be finished, or indeed any landowners willing to sell land for the provision of social housing to contact us.”
The tender further outlines that Cavan County Council will accept and approve at least one submission for each location where there is a significant social housing demand but reserves the right to consider suitable submissions for areas that have lower demand. Once the proposals have been assessed and are deemed acceptable, they will be ranked according to the selection criteria.
Mr Ryan acknowledged that there would be particular consideration to available land banks located adjacent to major urban centres in the county where the demand for social housing remains greatest, telling the Celt: “We're looking at every opportunity. But yes, we're looking for suitable lands, housing developments, even lands with planning permission that they might be prepared to carry out the developments themselves, particularly in the higher populated areas of the county. That is where the greatest demand for housing currently is.”
 

Virginia library update

Meanwhile, the deadline is also approaching for an open procurement tender seeking architectural firms to provide the design, planning and construction management of the proposed new library in Virginia.
The €350,000 contract will ultimately see the appointment of a team responsible for the architectural assessment of the buildings, preliminary design and detailed design, planning process, and tender process, all the way to supervision of construction, project close-out and final handover.
It’s estimated that the contract will run for a period of three years and the deadline for tenders to be submitted is January 26.