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A leaked report from the Housing Commission has called for a massive ramping up of the State’s involvement in the housing sector, arguing a State “funding anchor” is needed for fundamental and systemic failings in the market to be addressed. New legislation, a new oversight body for housing, an expanded role for the State in funding housing, and overhauling of subsidies and schemes are among the recommendations from the Housing Commission’s report. Sections of the report seen by The Irish Times criticise interventions that have “not resolved failures that are fundamentally systemic” and outline a pattern of “ineffective decision making and reactive policymaking where risk aversion dominates”. It suggests there is an underlying housing deficit in Ireland of up to 256,000 homes.
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While proposals to convert offices into student accommodation or other forms of residential accommodation are regularly mooted, care is required as residential developments are subject to wholly different planning standards especially regarding open space. The Business Post's latest article on this shows the potential but not the how.
Ireland’s student accommodation sector is expected to be one of the markets to
benefit from a stabilisation in both interest rates and construction cost
inflation. Already the market is underpinned by student demand as reflected in
Higher Education Authority (HEA) estimates that 75,640 student beds would be
required by 2024. But supply is well short of that figure and according to
the latest report from Mitchell McDermott property consultants, only 1,500 to
2,000 beds are being built annually so supply will reach only 55,000 beds by
2027. One way to accelerate delivery would be conversion of office
buildings and John Dobbin of Shay Cleary Architects said that student
accommodation (PBSA) could be a more suitable conversion project than
residential apartments. Indeed, by providing PBSA more quickly this would
also help to remove thousands of students from the wider residential rental
market. Dobbin pointed out that older offices built in the 1960s, 1970s
and 1980s are particularly suited for conversion compared to more modern ones
because the older ones have narrower floor plates of 13 to 15 metres, central
corridors, suitable floor-to-ceiling heights and fewer columns.
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The issue of 'off the peg' log cabins being imported into Ireland in kit form and erected instead of standard houses has been the subject of so many planning applications. National guidance on such buildings would be welcomed.
At a recent Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District meeting councillors raised concerns about the use of log cabins in the county.
Cllr Mary Farrell asked if log cabins were permitted on land bought from Wexford County Council. She spoke of a young family that she is aware of that are currently living in a mobile home in the garden of their mother’s house in Gorey. “The County Development Plan facilitates log cabins where it complies with the standards but there is a difference between rural areas and someone in an urban setting where someone wants to put it in their back garden and they’re surrounded by their neighbours. It depends where it is and they will be assessed on a case by case basis,” said Director of Service, Elizabeth Hore in response to Cllr Farrell’s question.