New zero energy Dún Laoghaire homes are unveiled by council

TWELVE new homes have been unveiled by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council as part of its delivery target of 1,563 social housing homes by 2021.

The homes were designed in-house by the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Architects’ Department and built by John Sisk & Son on a brown field site, to a rapid delivery programme.

The prototype development was officially opened by the cathaoirleach of the council, Cllr Tom Murphy, and Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Damien English. 

As near Zero Energy Buildings ‘nZEB’ will become mandatory for all housing stock in the near future, these homes demonstrate how this can be achieved cost effectively, to a rapid build programme on what was desribed as a difficult site.

The homes are designed and built to a very high specification and take advantage of some of the latest innovations and technology in house building, resulting in ultra-modern, energy efficient and high quality homes. 

The development consists of 12 houses in total, 10 two-bed terraced houses and two 2-bed semi-detached houses, located in the centre of Dún Laoghaire, at George’s Place.

The council said this development will provide much needed dwellings built to the highest environmental standards in keeping with their ethos of providing bright, spacious, comfortable accommodation, with superb indoor air quality and low running costs for tenants. 

These homes will be allocated to tenants in the coming weeks. 

Speaking at the launch Cllr Murphy, said: “In setting out our ambition for this project the council wanted sustainably designed and well-constructed, quality houses which achieved a BER A1 energy rating.

“We are delighted with the open, transparent and collaborative relationship we developed with our construction partner, John Sisk & Son, who have delivered on all fronts – safe, quality, on budget and timely delivery.

“The provision of social and affordable housing is the council’s main priority and we are delighted to formally take possession of these houses today and look forward to getting families settled into their new homes.” 

Commenting on the handover of the scheme, Stephen Bowcott, CEO of John Sisk added: “Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council had a vision for this prototype development.

“They wanted it to be constructed with top quality materials which would deliver energy efficient, easy to run and maintain homes that would add to the architectural heritage of the area.

“Working in partnership with them and our supply chain we have delivered on that vision in only eight months.

“This is a great demonstration of our house building capability through our dedicated ‘Sisk Living’ brand.”

“We worked closely with the client and with the local neighbours to the site and the wider community to ensure the development would fit in to the environment and deliver comfortable, energy efficient home for the people who will live in them.

“This is our first delivery of Social Houses since 2009 and we are quite proud to confirm that it is being delivered early, by 3 weeks. We have also proven that builders on a design, build and finance basis can deliver homes at a far lower cost than developers who take the risk of speculatively purchasing land up front for the carrot of big margins.”

Addressing the attendees at the launch, Minister of State, Damien English TD, said: “2018 is a critical year for social housing delivery; a critical year to see the fruits of enhanced capacity building across Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies; to see significant increases in the number of new build units being added to stock; to see innovative delivery streams achieving results and to see real impacts for individuals and families across the country.

A key priority under Rebuilding Ireland is to increase the level of build on a year by year basis. Local Authorities are absolutely central to the implementation of the action plan. All across Ireland, they are responding to that housing supply challenge and are pushing forward with an ambitious programme of works and we are adding to this list on a constant basis”

dlr is currently active on eight social housing sites across the county, ranging from 2 to 50 homes. Two of the larger sites, Rosemount Court in Dundrum and Fitzgerald Park, Mountown, Dún Laoghaire, will deliver 44 and 50 new dwellings respectively. Both of these developments will be handed over to tenants before the end of the year.