New houses for refugees delayed

The Office of Public Works (OPW) remains hopeful of meeting an end of May deadline to deliver 28 homes for Ukrainian refugees in Cavan Town despite a series of hold-ups caused by poor site conditions and questions raised over the area boundary.

The new “estimated completion date” for the rapid-build modular units is now “end-May/early June 2023” according to a spokesperson for the OPW, albeit “subject to any technical issues arising during construction”.

As a result, there is no update available as to what the final cost of the project will amount to. The units are two-bed, single-storey, semi-detached houses.

The spokesperson explained: “There were a number of such issues that arose over the past few months relating to site conditions and boundaries that delayed earlier forecasted dates of completion.”

Previously, the new houses at Drumnavannagh, on OPW-owned land off Farnham Road, were due to be completed by February of this year. This date however was pushed out until March, and the subsequently to the end of May.

Cavan is one of seven sites nationwide on which 700 rapid build modular housing units are being erected for Ukrainian refugees. Other towns include Mahon in Cork, Thurles in Tipperary, Sligo Town, Claremorris in Co Mayo, Rathdowney in Co Laois and Clonminch, Co Offaly.

The OPW says work is “already well underway” on the first phase at each of the respective locations, with “the delivery of units already happening on a number of those sites in preparation for occupation over the next month or so”.

The Anglo-Celt previously reported that the modular units are being manufactured off-site in Ireland at an average cost of €145,000 each. This does not include the cost of construction, delivery and installation, or site enabling works.

Along with the modular new builds set for Cavan, the plan is to provide 32 on-street car parking spaces, bin storage, bicycle stores, pavements, public lighting, landscaping, ESB substation, and water connections.

While it has been reported in the past that the project will cost in excess of €8 million to deliver, the OPW now says such an estimate is “not available at this time”.

“The cost of the programme is dependent on a range of factors, not least the site ground conditions and abnormals that require considerably more development preparation works. Therefore, the full cost of the programme is not available at this time.”

While these rapid build homes will “initially be used” to temporarily house people fleeing Ukraine, they have the “potential” to be utilised to address other accommodation challenges in future, such as social housing and student accommodation.

Specific planning regulations have been introduced to allow for the development of rapid build accommodation. These sites can only be used for this purpose and for a maximum of three years from the date development begins. Following this, a full routine planning process must take place to determine use.

The OPW says it is continuing to work with Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), local authorities, the Housing Agency and other bodies on progressing technical assessments on a range of other sites around the country.

But they say it is “important to note that while local authorities have some sites in their ownership, many of these are earmarked for future housing development and may not be readily available for this programme”.