THE DEVELOPERS OF almost 500 delayed social homes have called for an “urgent meeting” with government and all stakeholders involved in the project.

It comes after The Journal exclusively reported last Friday that almost 500 homes have been delayed after James Browne pulled the plug over concerns about the costs involved for the multimillion euro projects.

Torc Consortium, a partnership between developers Equitix and Kajima, is the group that were to deliver the 486 homes, under a public private partnership (PPP) scheme, across six sites.

Following Browne’s announcement last week, Torc today has called on government to meet with all relevant stakeholders in the project, which was due to start in the coming weeks.

Managing Director of Equitix Ben Leech said the project that was due to accommodate 1,715 people “presents an immediate opportunity to tackle Ireland’s housing crisis”.

Browne on Friday told The Journal that his Department decided not to proceed with the contract award on a value for money basis. He said that his department and local authorities “remain fully committed to delivering social housing” at the sites.

Housing Minister James Browne cited value for money concerns as the reason for delaying the delivery of the social homes. © RollingNews.ie © RollingNews.ie

It has been claimed that the cost of construction as well as the maintenance and operating the homes over 25 years amounts to 1.2 times the average price for social housing.

Leech today called the minister’s claims that the projects were delayed over value for money concerns into question:

“Since Torc was announced as the preferred bidding on 8 October last year, there has been no change in the project’s pricing, and it was just weeks away from starting construction.”

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Leech, who is also the spokesperson for Torc, said the developers remain committed to delivering the homes. He added that the firm retains confidence in the PPP model and wants to work to find solutions to the “urgent housing challenges”.

Up to 244 of the homes were planned for Dublin and the others are spread across Kildare, Wicklow and Sligo.

It is unclear when the homes will now be delivered, but the minister stressed to The Journal on Friday that the government aims to deliver them “as expeditiously as possible” through an “alternative procurement and delivery strategy”.

The decision is set to have significant ramifications, as the department confirmed that housing officials will now carry out a review of four upcoming PPP bundles – each earmarked to contain hundreds of homes.

Dublin city councillors last night passed two emergency motions which called on the minister to reverse his decision and urged government to make funding available for the almost 250 homes in the capital available.