Press release
Minister O'Brien launches two new publications to improve quality & quicken delivery of social homes
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD, has today launched two publications that will help improve the quality, cost-effectiveness and pace of delivery of social homes and mixed-tenure developments.
Minister O’Brien presented a Design Manual for Quality Housing, and a Review of Pre-Construction Processes for Social Housing Construction and Mixed Tenure Projects to Fingal County Council’s Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly and Fingal’s County Architect Fionnuala May at the council’s office in Swords, North County Dublin.
Design Manual for Quality Housing
The Design Manual is being sent to all Local Authorities and Tier-3 Approved Housing Bodies and will also be available electronically on the Department’s website. The manual, a commitment in the Government’s Housing for All plan, will help to:
• improve the quality of social housing
• improve delivery of social housing developments
• guide local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, and their consultants, on the design of social housing site layouts and the internal layouts of individual social homes.
Review of Pre-Construction Processes for Social Housing
The Review of Pre-Construction Processes for Social Housing Construction and Mixed Tenure Projects was also a key commitment in Housing for All. In the Plan the Government has committed to delivering over 90,000 new build social homes by the end of 2030. The review of Pre-Construction Processes for Social Housing will help to deliver on this seismic shift towards new build social homes. The review sets out a number of practical actions which will streamline the approvals and other pre-contract processes, while ensuring that cost effectiveness is being achieved for the taxpayer. Some of the actions included in the review are:
• De-risking potential delays
• Fostering greater use of the single stage approval process
• Fast tracking through Approval Stages
• Central Online Resources
• Project Management Training
Commenting on the new publications Minister O’Brien said
“I am pleased to launch these important publications, both of which will greatly assist local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, their respective design teams and planners to deliver better designed, more cost-effective and efficiently built social and mixed-tenure developments.
“The key to our current housing challenges is supply and the speed at which we can scale up supply. Both publications are key elements of Housing for All’s aim of improving the quality and delivery times of social housing developments. They will help make public housing more efficient and cost-effectively designed, and will help shorten the social housing and mixed tenure approvals processes. This is critical given the scale of public housing ambition.
“The Design Manual also sits firmly within the Programme for Government commitment to act against climate change. We must continue to improve not only the quantity of housing output across all the various forms of tenure but also to maintain and improve on the quality of residential development, in an economic and environmentally sustainable manner. I want to thank the local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, Land Development Agency and all who inputted into the Design Manual for Quality Housing and the working group on pre-construction processes for their comprehensive report.”
On behalf of the local government sector, Frank Curran, Chairman of the County and City Management Association Housing, Building and Land Use, Committee said:
“Local Authorities have a major role to play in delivering the social housing targets set out in the Housing for All plan and I welcome the publication of the Design Manual for Quality Housing which will be of great assistance to housing departments across the 31 local authorities as they seek to increase their own-build output of sustainable social housing to meet the needs of our communities.”
The manual was also welcomed by Dr Donal McManus, CEO of the Irish Council for Social Housing:
“The publication of the Design Manual provides a welcome guide for Approved Housing Bodies in delivering quality social housing. The application of quality design and sustainability principles to the delivery of new homes will provide a useful resource to AHBs in achieving good quality housing using best practice guidelines. The availability of design layouts across different housing typologies will assist AHBs in delivering an expanded social housing programme.”
The Design Manual for Quality Housing contains sample site layouts and standard internal layouts for houses, duplexes and apartments. Where proposals are received which adopt standard internal layouts approvals will be quicker as the Department will not re- evaluate such standard internal layouts, as is necessary with unique, bespoke designs.
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
Design Manual for Quality Housing
• The Design Manual is predominantly aimed at local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and their design consultants, who are involved with the design of social housing and with delivering individual social housing developments or as part of larger mixed-tenure developments. However, the high-level design principles should be equally applicable to any residential development.
• Earlier in 2021, the Department consulted on a draft of the Design Manual for Quality Housing. It consulted key stakeholders, including local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies.
• The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage provides professional and technical advice on the design and delivery of publicly funded homes, by Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, so that dwellings are:
o of good quality, rationally and economically designed to deliver value for money
o well located to foster Sustainable Communities and deliver Compact Development
o delivered consistent with planning policy and best urban design principles to promote quality in the public realm
The manual is the third document in the Quality Housing Design series, accompanying:
• Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities (2007)
• Employers Requirements for Detail Design of Quality Housing (Revision 1 September 2020)
Review of Pre-Construction Processes for Social Housing Construction and Mixed Tenure Projects Working Group Report
• The review sets out a number of practical actions with the aim of further streamlining the approvals and other pre-contract processes, while ensuring that cost effectiveness is being achieved for the taxpayer.
• The Review report is a result of a collaborative engagement involving the local government sector, the approved housing bodies, the Land Development Agency and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
• Among the actions aimed at supporting Housing for All’s targets are:
o De-risking potential delays by facilitating and providing funding for pre-application site assessment and investigation
o Fostering greater use of the single stage approval process
o Fast tracking through Approval Stages where departmental design layouts, specifications and cost guidelines are adhered to
o Stage 3 of the four-stage process becoming optional in certain circumstances
o Improve Capital Assistance Scheme Process for AHBs
o Simplifying Approval through the Public Spending Code with the preparation of a Programme Level Strategic Assessment Review (SAR) for Affordable Purchase, Cost Rental and/or Social Housing
o Guiding Local Authorities, AHBs and the LDA through the Approvals Process for Mixed Tenure
o Clearing House to Address Blockages: the DHLGH, LAs, and AHBs will focus urgently on any “blockages” for projects not running smoothly through the approval stages
o Further Project Management Training for LAs and AHBs is to be rolled out in 2022
o Promoting Paralleling of Work Throughout the 4-Stage Process
Housing for All
Action 24.3 : Review and streamline all approval and other pre-contract processes to accelerate the delivery of Local Authority, AHB and LDA social housing proposals and projects and to agree with the DPER, a revised sectoral guidance where required
Action 24.4: DHLGH to liaise with the DPER on the process underpinning the approval of mixed-tenure housing programmes, in recognition of the established need for housing and Government approval of social and affordable housing targets
Action 24.5: Work collaboratively with all delivery partners to ensure that guidelines relating to standard layouts, standard specifications and standard cost guidelines for social housing are applied consistently in developing social housing proposals to drive efficient and cost -effective public housing design and to assist in further shortening the approvals process
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Press Office
Tel: (01) 888 2638 (direct)
Email: press@housing.gov.ie
Website: gov.ie/housing
Twitter: @DeptHousingIRL