Prefabricated housing manufacturers had until 7am on Monday to apply to provide 22 modular homes for Dublin's homeless families by Christmas. Dublin City Council plans to shortlist a minimum of three and a maximum of eight companies to bid to provide the three-bed two-storey houses at a site in Poppintree, Ballymun.
The Ballymun site will be the first of five chosen to provide up to 153 modular homes within the next four months. The other sites are in Finglas, Darndale, Crumlin and Ballyfermot. However, the Ballymun site is already at the centre of a dispute over existing plans to build 40 co-operative houses on the same land. The Ó Cualann Co-housing Alliance has had planning permission to build houses on the site for several years.
The Sinn Féin group on the city council will tonight table a motion to ensure the co-operative housing association can go ahead with its plans. "This is a large site and it is possible for the modular and the co-op housing to be accommodated on the one site," Sinn Féin councillor and chairman of the council's housing committee Daithí Doolan said.
Mr Doolan said a number of questions remained unanswered in relation the use and management of the modular housing in the five sites. “Who will manage the modular housing and the tenants? Will it be Dublin City Council or will it be handed over to housing associations? Will the tenants be subject to estate management rules? And who will fund the maintenance, Dublin City Council or the Department of the Environment?”
The council plans to take just four days to assess any applications submitted by Monday morning, after which it will ask the best qualifying candidates to submit full tenders. If fewer than three applications are received by tomorrow, the council can still go ahead and negotiate with those applicants.
The initial qualifying criteria for applicants are stringent. The successful contractor must be in a position to complete the development within a maximum of 28 days of an anticipated start date of November 23rd, including not only the manufacture of the houses but also site preparation, laying foundations and ground slabs, installing site services and connections to utility services, as well as landscaping the site.
They must submit details of up to five projects completed within the past seven years that are “similar in nature and complexity to the works required for this project”. The projects will be assessed on how they compare with the planned development and should be of a similar number and type of housing, they must have been on an urban site and must be “of a similar complexity, ie, rapid delivery housing units and fast track programme”.
Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly last month said 500 modular houses would be provided as emergency housing for homeless families across Dublin. Half of these will be located in the Dublin City Council area, with the rest split among the four Dublin local authority areas.
