FOUR HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS in Dublin built using novel methods of construction were found to have a range of issues including fire safety defects, damp, and a lack of oversight in how they were built. 

That’s according to a report by Dublin City Council on some of the reasons behind delays that led to overrun costs that ran into tens of millions of euro.

The overruns on the rapid-build modular housing developments in the capital added up to €39.4 million across four projects which delivered 263 homes.

The internal report, seen by The Journal, had stinging criticism for the level of “competence” at display in the work, saying that in future “sufficient training, experience, and knowledge appropriate” to the nature of the work was crucial to rapid-build housing.

It also indicated relations got progressively more sour between developer Sisk and the council, with the local authority’s report noting that it was landed with a “large quantity of legal documents” during a dispute over the conditions of the sites.

This resulted in a “lengthy and complex multi-issue dispute including large sums of money” according to the council, which said significant resources had to be allocated to prepare its response.

Sisk, an Irish company which now has operations across Europe, has been contacted on a number of occasions by The Journal over recent months and has declined to comment on the criticism of the four projects.

City housing

The developments were built at Bunratty Road in Coolock, Cork Street and Bonham Street in the city centre, and Springvale in Chapelizod.

The homes on each project were built as part of a partnership with construction company Sisk but faced serious delays as they tried to employ what the council described as a “novel” style of building, called modern methods of construction, which aims to be far more efficient than traditional techniques. 

The four projects were previously strongly criticised in a government report for breaching national procurement rules, leading to overrun costs of tens of millions of euro on a series of housing projects.

Amounts paid towards consultants for each project also came in for stinging criticism from a State auditor in that report, with the council paying more than 50% of the original tender contract in three of the four housing projects highlighted.

Local reaction

Local councillor Darragh Moriarty told The Journal that the report was a reminder that “quick fixes” shouldn’t be pursued amid the housing and homelessness crisis.

Moriarty previously bemoaned the regular bad news he and other councillors had to deliver to hopeful tenants as the homes kept getting delayed.

“This was the rapid build that wasn’t rapid. There were huge over-runs in terms of timelines, huge overruns in terms of cost,” Labour’s councillor for the South West Inner City area said.

“I’d credit the building controls team in the council for ensuring that the units are fit for purpose, because we have to make sure that tenants ultimately get a good quality house to live in.”

“One of the lessons learned has to be that these developments are not straightforward and are not the silver bullet the housing industry say they are. We need to keep trialing and fixing these types of housing before rolling them out on a much wider basis.”

Oversight of site

The report found that while the Covid-19 pandemic was to blame for initial problems and delays, the local authority said further problems arose around the monitoring of the works taking place on the site.

Other delays were caused by a need to replace sub-contractors on some of the sites, after they went out of business during the pandemic.

The homes were initially developed in a factory before being transported and completed on site. The council said it carried out inspections in the factory but indicated that oversight was lacking by the developer after that.

It said that multi-storey residential buildings including those utilising modern methods of construction need “comprehensive site monitoring resources” to ensure they are completed on time and to standard.

It added: “The feedback from these projects reinforces our view of its importance.

“Our experiences confirm the importance of off-site inspections of the relevant MMC element in the factory. For clarity, inspections were undertaken by DCC during the factory manufacture stage.”

The council has previously said it had to revise the projects on a “number of occasions” before eventually completing them in different stages.

In the new report, it said took several learnings from the projects, which “reinforces our view on the importance that all works should be carried out by competent persons with sufficient training, experience, and knowledge appropriate to the nature of the work”.