Almost 900 "rapid-build" homes, 70 per cent of which will be apartments, are planned by Dublin City Council for vacant sites across the city .
Up to now rapid-build housing has been used to house homeless families living in hotels, but the new homes at 19 locations will be used for applicants living in general social housing as well as homeless people.
Only 22 rapid-build homes have been delivered by the council, at Poppintree in Ballymun, since the scheme was announced in late 2015 to address the homelessness crisis.
Another 130 under construction at four sites across the city were originally to be ready in June of last year. They are now expected to be finished by next month.
Last November the council announced plans to build modular or “stackable” apartments at two sites in the city. The “volumetric-build” project involves stacking factory-built housing units to form apartment blocks. The 66 apartments are expected to cost €15 million.
Fishamble Street
The smaller of the two sites, a vacant plot on Fishamble Street near Christ Church Cathedral, will have four to eight apartments at a cost of €1.5 million to €1.8 million. This will be used to accommodate homeless families living in emergency accommodation.
The second site, a €13.5 million scheme of 60 apartments at Bunratty Road in Coolock, will be used to accommodate people on the council's general housing waiting list. Both projects are due to be completed by the end of next year.
The 130 homes currently under construction at sites in Finglas, Drimnagh, Darndale and Cherry Orchard are all two-storey houses. The council last November announced another 70 houses are to be built under the rapid-build programme at three sites in the city.
Two of these will be in Finglas, at Woodbank Drive – where four houses will be built – and at Rathvilly Park, which will have 13. Another 53 houses will be built on Health Service Executive lands in Ballyfermot. The council will shortly award tenders for these three developments.
However, the council said most of the 630 homes in “phase two” of its rapid-build programme would be apartments.
“Phase two will have an emphasis on ‘volumetric’ rapid build which will maximise the potential of sites and increase the number of social housing units delivered,” it said.
Higher-density
The 10 sites chosen are more suited to “higher-density” development of “multiunit buildings”, the council said.
The largest site, at St Helena’s Road in Finglas, close to the modular housing already under construction, will have 100 “starter homes” in addition to 50 social housing apartments.
A site at Springvale in Chapelizod has been designated for 81 units; and sites at Grand Canal Harbour and Darndale will have 80 each.
Bridgefoot Street in Dublin 8 has been earmarked for an estimated 58 apartments, Croftwood Gardens in Ballyfermot has been designated for 45 homes, and sites in Coolock, Cork Street and Weaver Street will have an estimated 40 apartments each. The smallest site at Ayrfield has been earmarked for 15 homes.
