More than two-thirds of people living in one of Dublin’s biggest public housing estates want it demolished, it has been revealed.
Yet, the vast majority of residents in Dolphin House and Park in the south inner-city want to stay in the area despite drug dealing and other anti-social behaviour.
Local community activists have compiled a report detailing the residents’ hopes for radical regeneration being considered by Dublin City Council. Dr Rory Hearne, regeneration worker with the Dolphin House Community Development Association, said redevelopment work could end the cycle of poverty blighting the community.
“Regeneration of Dolphin House and Dolphin Park offers the potential to end a cycle of poverty and social disadvantage in this large community” - he said. “The cost of investing in regeneration now is only a fraction of what the future social and economic costs of inaction would be.
“As Dolphin is at the heart of a key area of Dublin city, regeneration also has the potential to create knock-on economic and social benefits and job creation opportunities for the surrounding community.”
After Ballymun, Dolphin House is the capital’s largest remaining public housing flat complex, with more than 900 residents - including a cluster of housing for senior citizens called Dolphins Park. It includes nine four-storey and three-storey blocks of flats built in the 1950s.
Key findings from the Dolphin Decides study are -
* 82% of residents want significant regeneration, with 67% wanting full demolition.
* Despite a history of drug dealing and intimidation, 70% of residents want to stay in the estate and 65% cited the area’s neighbourly feel.
* Residents also said tackling the social problems of the area must also be given as much time as dealing with the physical makeover and called for no delays in the regeneration.
* Residents do not wish to have a high-rise development built.
Locals recited verses and sang songs about the estate at the report’s launch in the Dolphin House Community Portakabins. Veronica Lally, 40, who has lived in the estate all her life, said regeneration was vital to help deal with the social problems plaguing the area.
“Regeneration is very important for our community. We want a bright new future. We believe after all these years we put in, that we want something back in return” - she said. “The flats that we live in today are practically uninhabitable at the moment. They’re damp - there’s just so much maintenance you can do.
“Unfortunately in society drugs affect every community. We’re not the only one. We hope through regeneration and through education and learning we can do something about this situation.”
However, fellow resident, Betty Phillips, aged in her 60s, doesn’t want to see the housing complex razed. “I’m really happy where I am in my flat. I feel safe there and I just have the fear that we will be left on a building site for years” - she said.
The report was launched in the estate by Barnardos chief Fergus Finlay and broadcaster George Hook. Mr Hook highlighted the community spirit in the area.
John Tierney, Dublin City Manager, said that, in the recession, it was going to be tough to implement a masterplan for the area, but the council would do everything in its power to work with the community to see it through.
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label social housing estates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social housing estates. Show all posts
Monday, 3 August 2009
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Council in talks over housing schemes
DUBLIN CITY Council has entered into negotiations with Boston firm Corcoran Jennison in relation to two of the five major social housing projects which were to have been built by Bernard McNamara.
Councillors were yesterday told that there was no potential developer in relation to the other three regeneration projects that collapsed earlier this year and that the council was facing a €20 million drop in its social housing budget for 2009.
Corcoran Jennison had bid for the public private partnership (PPP) contracts to redevelop the dilapidated flat complexes at Dominick Street, O'Devaney Gardens and St Michael's Estate.
However, the contracts for these and two other smaller regeneration projects at Infirmary Road and Seán McDermott Street were awarded to Mr McNamara.
The contracts with Mr McNamara collapsed earlier this year after it emerged that the developer could not get planning permission for the number of units he wanted, following a change in regulation on apartment size.
In his first report to the council's housing committee since the contracts with Mr McNamara were dissolved, assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara said that discussions were ongoing with Corcoran Jennison in relation to Dominick Street and St Michael's Estate.
The Infirmary Road project would be integrated with the neighbouring O'Devaney Gardens site and a taskforce was examining the options for these sites and the "convent lands" on Seán McDermott Street, he said.
He also told the council that because of public spending restrictions, there would be €20 million less in the social housing budget for 2009 than 2008 and a further €20 million of the 2009 budget would have to be set aside for the PPPs. The social housing budget for 2008 was €150 million.
"We are not going to get any additional monies," he warned.
Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne said she felt "deeply let down" by the council management. Following a severe spate of violence and vandalism in O'Devaney Gardens last summer, she had assured residents that the council was dealing with their estate as a matter of urgency.
"I can't go back and look those women in the eye and tell them that any progress at all has been made. I can offer no civic leadership to the people of O'Devaney Gardens."
Labour councillor Kevin Humphreys said there had been no progress on the PPP schemes for nine to 12 months. There were already 5,300 people on the housing waiting list and a €20 million shortfall would be a "disaster for the city".
Sinn Féin's Christy Burke said the Department of the Environment needed to be approached for additional money.
Mr McNamara said he understood there was frustration over the progress of the PPPs. "If there was a way we could speed it up, we would speed it up, but there isn't any pot of gold there."
The council formally terminated its contracts with Mr McNamara in relation to St Michael's Estate in Inchicore and Dominick Street in the north inner city last July. Agreement was reached that he would go ahead with the development on Seán McDermott Street in the city centre. The council entered into mediation with him on the projects at Infirmary Road and O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7.
The council last month issued a statement saying that following mediation, its relationship with Mr McNamara was now at an end in relation to all five projects, including the convent lands.
Under the mediation agreement, Mr McNamara undertook to hand over drawings and plans for the developments, give up claims to the land and pay the council €1.5 million in compensation. The council in return agreed not to take legal action against him.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Councillors were yesterday told that there was no potential developer in relation to the other three regeneration projects that collapsed earlier this year and that the council was facing a €20 million drop in its social housing budget for 2009.
Corcoran Jennison had bid for the public private partnership (PPP) contracts to redevelop the dilapidated flat complexes at Dominick Street, O'Devaney Gardens and St Michael's Estate.
However, the contracts for these and two other smaller regeneration projects at Infirmary Road and Seán McDermott Street were awarded to Mr McNamara.
The contracts with Mr McNamara collapsed earlier this year after it emerged that the developer could not get planning permission for the number of units he wanted, following a change in regulation on apartment size.
In his first report to the council's housing committee since the contracts with Mr McNamara were dissolved, assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara said that discussions were ongoing with Corcoran Jennison in relation to Dominick Street and St Michael's Estate.
The Infirmary Road project would be integrated with the neighbouring O'Devaney Gardens site and a taskforce was examining the options for these sites and the "convent lands" on Seán McDermott Street, he said.
He also told the council that because of public spending restrictions, there would be €20 million less in the social housing budget for 2009 than 2008 and a further €20 million of the 2009 budget would have to be set aside for the PPPs. The social housing budget for 2008 was €150 million.
"We are not going to get any additional monies," he warned.
Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne said she felt "deeply let down" by the council management. Following a severe spate of violence and vandalism in O'Devaney Gardens last summer, she had assured residents that the council was dealing with their estate as a matter of urgency.
"I can't go back and look those women in the eye and tell them that any progress at all has been made. I can offer no civic leadership to the people of O'Devaney Gardens."
Labour councillor Kevin Humphreys said there had been no progress on the PPP schemes for nine to 12 months. There were already 5,300 people on the housing waiting list and a €20 million shortfall would be a "disaster for the city".
Sinn Féin's Christy Burke said the Department of the Environment needed to be approached for additional money.
Mr McNamara said he understood there was frustration over the progress of the PPPs. "If there was a way we could speed it up, we would speed it up, but there isn't any pot of gold there."
The council formally terminated its contracts with Mr McNamara in relation to St Michael's Estate in Inchicore and Dominick Street in the north inner city last July. Agreement was reached that he would go ahead with the development on Seán McDermott Street in the city centre. The council entered into mediation with him on the projects at Infirmary Road and O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7.
The council last month issued a statement saying that following mediation, its relationship with Mr McNamara was now at an end in relation to all five projects, including the convent lands.
Under the mediation agreement, Mr McNamara undertook to hand over drawings and plans for the developments, give up claims to the land and pay the council €1.5 million in compensation. The council in return agreed not to take legal action against him.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Minister's plans mistake confuses US developers
US property developers in talks with Dublin City Council (DCC) to rescue its stalled housing projects were alarmed by a statement from the Minister for Housing which implied that the controversial regeneration plans had been abandoned.
Minister of State Michael Finneran sent a statement to the media on Thursday, responding to the city council's announcement that it had reached a €1.5m "mutual understanding and agreement" with developer Bernard McNamara whereby he is to withdraw from the projects he was awarded. Finneran's statement, which was issued by his office just hours after the Boston-based under-bidder had left "a very constructive meeting" with DCC, called for the tenants of three estates scheduled for regeneration to be re-housed elsewhere.
"We think there's been a mistake made in the press release," said Miles Byrne of Corcoran Jennison, partners of Irish construction companies Pierse and Bennett in the original competition for four of the contracts. "The minister seems to be confused about the termination of negotiations with McNamara. We're excited about going forward with these PPPs. We believe we can do it and we're going to be reconvening the meeting with DCC in two weeks."
Five public-private partnership (PPP) projects ran aground last May when McNamara claimed the terms of the development contracts had been effectively rewritten by new energy-saving regulations and increased space specifications. The potential for litigation by either side forced DCC and McNamara into "a mediation process" in relation to three projects.
DCC announced on Thursday that McNamara is to release the sites and design licences for the projects, plus pay €1.5m towards costs incurred by the council. It added that a new team was examining options for future regeneration. However, Finneran's statement, issued by his office, seemed to contradict that by implying that all hope of regenerating the five estates was lost.
"The developers and DCC have committed time, resources and effort to make these projects work but in the context of declining house prices ... it was just not possible ... in the manner originally intended. Most importantly, the tenants ... have had their hopes disappointed and every effort must now be made to ensure that alternative, good quality accommodation is found for those households who now wish to move from these estates."
Corcoran Jennison has proposed to DCC that it will build the developments financed by bank loans which DCC will pay the company to service. On completion of the construction work, the company would remain in situ to manage the estates.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Minister of State Michael Finneran sent a statement to the media on Thursday, responding to the city council's announcement that it had reached a €1.5m "mutual understanding and agreement" with developer Bernard McNamara whereby he is to withdraw from the projects he was awarded. Finneran's statement, which was issued by his office just hours after the Boston-based under-bidder had left "a very constructive meeting" with DCC, called for the tenants of three estates scheduled for regeneration to be re-housed elsewhere.
"We think there's been a mistake made in the press release," said Miles Byrne of Corcoran Jennison, partners of Irish construction companies Pierse and Bennett in the original competition for four of the contracts. "The minister seems to be confused about the termination of negotiations with McNamara. We're excited about going forward with these PPPs. We believe we can do it and we're going to be reconvening the meeting with DCC in two weeks."
Five public-private partnership (PPP) projects ran aground last May when McNamara claimed the terms of the development contracts had been effectively rewritten by new energy-saving regulations and increased space specifications. The potential for litigation by either side forced DCC and McNamara into "a mediation process" in relation to three projects.
DCC announced on Thursday that McNamara is to release the sites and design licences for the projects, plus pay €1.5m towards costs incurred by the council. It added that a new team was examining options for future regeneration. However, Finneran's statement, issued by his office, seemed to contradict that by implying that all hope of regenerating the five estates was lost.
"The developers and DCC have committed time, resources and effort to make these projects work but in the context of declining house prices ... it was just not possible ... in the manner originally intended. Most importantly, the tenants ... have had their hopes disappointed and every effort must now be made to ensure that alternative, good quality accommodation is found for those households who now wish to move from these estates."
Corcoran Jennison has proposed to DCC that it will build the developments financed by bank loans which DCC will pay the company to service. On completion of the construction work, the company would remain in situ to manage the estates.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Top builder may be sued over house plan collapse
LAWYERS for Dublin city council are to consider taking legal action against developer Bernard McNamara after he pulled out of five major public private partnership projects.
At a special discussion on the controversial developments in the centre of the capital last night, the local authority said some €6m had already been spent on the projects -- less than the €27m stated by Mr McNamara.
Last week the developer said he planned to withdraw from the deals worth €900m because of changes to the property market, new rules on the size of apartments and planning delays.
Assistant city manager Ciaran McNamara said last night that the legal team for the council "has been instructed to examine the possible legal remedies" on the five projects.
The sites in which the developer was supposed to be involved were St Michael's estate in Inchicore, O'Devaney Gardens off the North Circular Road (NCR), Convent Lands on Sean McDermott Street, Infirmary Road and Dominick Street.
In cases where an agreement had not been signed, such as St Michael's estate and Dominick Street, there was no legal obligation upon the developer, said a report to the council.
However, where a contract had been signed, there were a set of "remedies" available.
Some 200 protesters turned up outside city hall last night to object to the collapse of the agreement between Mr McNamara and Dublin city council.
Disappointed
Residents of the St Michael's estate in Inchicore said they had been disappointed for the third time after being promised regeneration in the area.
Mr McNamara, from the council, said he had met with the developer yesterday to discuss the issue and that proposals for the future of the projects had been discussed.
The plans from the building group are now to be put in writing and sent to the council, the meeting heard. In turn, the council would reply promptly to the suggestions.
The assistant city manager said he had met with Mr McNamara a number of times over the last few months.
Shane Hickey
ww.buckplanning.ie
At a special discussion on the controversial developments in the centre of the capital last night, the local authority said some €6m had already been spent on the projects -- less than the €27m stated by Mr McNamara.
Last week the developer said he planned to withdraw from the deals worth €900m because of changes to the property market, new rules on the size of apartments and planning delays.
Assistant city manager Ciaran McNamara said last night that the legal team for the council "has been instructed to examine the possible legal remedies" on the five projects.
The sites in which the developer was supposed to be involved were St Michael's estate in Inchicore, O'Devaney Gardens off the North Circular Road (NCR), Convent Lands on Sean McDermott Street, Infirmary Road and Dominick Street.
In cases where an agreement had not been signed, such as St Michael's estate and Dominick Street, there was no legal obligation upon the developer, said a report to the council.
However, where a contract had been signed, there were a set of "remedies" available.
Some 200 protesters turned up outside city hall last night to object to the collapse of the agreement between Mr McNamara and Dublin city council.
Disappointed
Residents of the St Michael's estate in Inchicore said they had been disappointed for the third time after being promised regeneration in the area.
Mr McNamara, from the council, said he had met with the developer yesterday to discuss the issue and that proposals for the future of the projects had been discussed.
The plans from the building group are now to be put in writing and sent to the council, the meeting heard. In turn, the council would reply promptly to the suggestions.
The assistant city manager said he had met with Mr McNamara a number of times over the last few months.
Shane Hickey
ww.buckplanning.ie
McNamara to give Dublin City Council social housing proposals
DUBLIN CITY Council is to consider proposals from developer Bernard McNamara on how to proceed with plans for five public-private housing regeneration projects, which collapsed last week.
The proposals will be given to the city council in writing by next Thursday and the council will respond to these proposals by Friday week, assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara told a meeting of Dublin City Council last night.
Mr McNamara met developer Bernard McNamara yesterday and said any proposals will have to be within the terms of public private partnership (PPP).
The projects at Infirmary Road, St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, Dominick Street, Seán McDermott Street and O'Devaney Gardens, all in Dublin were to build about 1,800 new homes between them with a total value of some €900 million.
Under the proposals, the developers were to retain about 800 units and sell them, while the remainder would be used by Dublin City Council for social and affordable housing, replacing some old flat complexes.
Mr McNamara said at the weekend he had not "pulled out" of the projects but that the council had informed him it wanted to take "a different route".
However, last night the assistant city manager said he had met Mr McNamara last Thursday week and both sides agreed that the project was going nowhere and that they would end the process
Dublin City Council yesterday denied it "moved the goalposts" in relation to the scheme.
On RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ciarán McNamara said: "The goalposts didn't change. Remember, with public-private partnerships you are talking about the private sector taking on an element of risk."
Dublin City Council is considering legal remedies over the collapse of plans for the five projects, Ciarán McNamara told the council last night.
But on sites in which contracts have been signed, O'Devaney Gardens, Seán McDermott Street and Infirmary Road, there are legal remedies available which are being examined, the assistant city manager said.
However, where no project agreement has been signed (St Michael's estate and Dominick Street) there is no obligation on the developer to proceed, Ciarán McNamara said.
The assistant city manager also clarified that € 6 million has been spent by the council on the five regeneration projects so far.
While a commencement notice for Infirmary Road to begin was issued by the developer last Friday, the developer is in breach of the project agreement because €13 million due to the city council has not been paid, the assistant city manager said.
The developer also issued a commencement notice for St Michael's Estate, but the assistant city manager said the developer is not in a position to begin work as no project agreement has been signed.
Before the meeting over 200 angry residents of the affected areas protested outside city hall.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The proposals will be given to the city council in writing by next Thursday and the council will respond to these proposals by Friday week, assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara told a meeting of Dublin City Council last night.
Mr McNamara met developer Bernard McNamara yesterday and said any proposals will have to be within the terms of public private partnership (PPP).
The projects at Infirmary Road, St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, Dominick Street, Seán McDermott Street and O'Devaney Gardens, all in Dublin were to build about 1,800 new homes between them with a total value of some €900 million.
Under the proposals, the developers were to retain about 800 units and sell them, while the remainder would be used by Dublin City Council for social and affordable housing, replacing some old flat complexes.
Mr McNamara said at the weekend he had not "pulled out" of the projects but that the council had informed him it wanted to take "a different route".
However, last night the assistant city manager said he had met Mr McNamara last Thursday week and both sides agreed that the project was going nowhere and that they would end the process
Dublin City Council yesterday denied it "moved the goalposts" in relation to the scheme.
On RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ciarán McNamara said: "The goalposts didn't change. Remember, with public-private partnerships you are talking about the private sector taking on an element of risk."
Dublin City Council is considering legal remedies over the collapse of plans for the five projects, Ciarán McNamara told the council last night.
But on sites in which contracts have been signed, O'Devaney Gardens, Seán McDermott Street and Infirmary Road, there are legal remedies available which are being examined, the assistant city manager said.
However, where no project agreement has been signed (St Michael's estate and Dominick Street) there is no obligation on the developer to proceed, Ciarán McNamara said.
The assistant city manager also clarified that € 6 million has been spent by the council on the five regeneration projects so far.
While a commencement notice for Infirmary Road to begin was issued by the developer last Friday, the developer is in breach of the project agreement because €13 million due to the city council has not been paid, the assistant city manager said.
The developer also issued a commencement notice for St Michael's Estate, but the assistant city manager said the developer is not in a position to begin work as no project agreement has been signed.
Before the meeting over 200 angry residents of the affected areas protested outside city hall.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 25 May 2008
'Bernard McNamara turned his back on us. It's up to the government now'
YOU might think there is no sound as forlorn as a night wind banging the front door of a deserted house, but there is. It is the political breast-beating that has been slapping the balconies of O'Devaney Gardens all week. Laments that "we sold these people false hope" and "we've failed them" swirl as uselessly as litter around the 50-year-old blocks of flats named in memory of a long-dead bishop.
Were it to be described in an auctioneer's brochure a year ago, when development land this near the Spire was making ?20m an acre, hyperbole would have been unnecessary for 14 acres beside the Phoenix Park and Heuston railway station and Collins Barracks museum and Smithfield and the Four Courts, the centre of the capital city touchable from the red Luas line.
Today the iron railings the builders erected to section off the first phase of construction give the whole place an appearance of dashed dreams, like Miss Havisham in her yellowed wedding dress.
Dishevelled men clutching bottles of spirits come from outside the estate at all hours to shelter in the lee of the four blocks that are boarded up like famine ship trunks and waiting to be demolished in the summer. The 64 tenants moved out temporarily more than three years ago. How time flies in a place where everything else stands still.
"We've the biggest back garden in the world, " Nadine Murphy boasts with a nod towards the Phoenix Park and a rueful smile. Next week, she and her fellow residents will be writing to two of that garden's denizens, the president and the Taoiseach, asking for support in their quest for a decent place to live.
"If they use public transport, they'll pass O'Devaney Gardens on the No 10, " Murphy offers helpfully. "Brian Cowen is going to be moving into a lovely new house in the park. He should look after his neighbours because we'll look after him." On the wall behind her head in the regeneration board's office on the ground floor of the farmost block, an A4 sheet of paper concludes: "People passed over for profit." Some men come and go outside in the hallway, piling machine-cut planks of cheap wood on the floor. "For the banners, " explains the young mother. "We're not going to give up the fight.
We're not bricks and mortar. We have hearts and our hearts have been broken."
It was all supposed to be so different. The band played, the flags and the marquee fluttered and the children got their faces painted on 12 February last year when Bertie Ahern and Bernard McNamara came to celebrate the signing of the regeneration project, eight years after the tenants first saw architects' drawings. The Taoiseach had dropped by in December 2005 to share the wonderful news with his Dublin Central constituents that a developer had been chosen. The McNamara/Castlethorn partnership won for their design and schedule submissions, though their projected gross revenues were less than the secondplaced bidder, Pierce Construction and the Boston-based Corcoran Jennison. The job was to have been finished by the end of next year.
"I met Bernard McNamara the day the agreement was signed, " Nadine recalls. "When I walked back home to my flat I really believed he had the community interest at heart because he said, 'Whatever I can do for the community I will do, ' and the only thing he's done is turn his back on us. It's up to the government now to get this built." The tenants, she says, are seeking meetings with the ministers for finance, the environment and housing.
Poignantly, the only guarantee they have secured from Dublin City Council is that the ?20,000 it provides for the annual Regeneration Festival in August is still available.
"We're running out of time, " says Antoinette Mullen, giving a guided tour of the three-bedroom flat she shares with her husband and their two teenage daughters. There is no space for a kitchen or dining table which means they eat all their meals from plates balanced on their laps. "We wanted to get a mortgage for the affordable housing and we've been holding off, " she explains, "but we're both 35 and we'll soon be at the age that we won't qualify for a mortgage." (Contrary to popular perception, everyone in O'Devaney Gardens who was interviewed for this article is employed and pays tax. ) Biting off more than he can chew Sympathy for Bernard McNamara, the multimillionaire former Fianna Fail county councillor from Lisdoonvarna, is as scarce in O'Devaney Gardens as optimism. Flimsy information about his Ailesbury Road mansion, with its swimming pool and ballroom, and his possession of a helicopter and the Shelbourne Hotel, give an edge to the flat-dwellers' feelings of dejection. They are in no mood to commiserate with the businessman for his troubles. "He's walking away from ?900m worth of work on five projects.
Wouldn't you wonder if he's bitten off more than he can chew? , " says Antoinette Mullen. "I don't think the government should ask him to build the new prison if he's going to leave us in the lurch."
(McNamara's company is building the new prison complex at Thornton Hall in north Dublin. ) Asked if the speculation that he is in financial trouble is true, in light of his withdrawal from the five Private-Public Partnership (PPP) schemes for Dublin City Council, Bernard McNamara's spokesman replied: "The decision in relation to these PPPs was taken because of a combination of two things - the downturn in the marketplace and fundamental changes to the schemes that would have required a new planning application." The spokesman confirmed that the developer "believes the PPPs are too complicated."
Bernard McNamara, who inherited his father's building company, Michael McNamara & Company, is the Greta Garbo of Irish property developers, despite his ubiquity on the Irish landscape.
He owns the Radisson in Galway, the Shelbourne and the Parknasilla Great Southern in Kerry. He sold his 14.5% share of the Superquinn chain last summer but retains his ownership of the Champion Sports retail chain. He is offloading the Ormond Hotel on the Dublin quays and the Grafton Street buildings which house the Richard Alan and Zerep shops, reputedly in order to assemble a portfolio of development properties at the back of the Westbury Hotel, as part of a consortium. He is developing the massive Glass Bottle site in Ringsend and is, according to his spokesman, on schedule and on budget with both this and his ?lm Park development, comprising 400 homes, 28,000sq m of offices, a 169-bed, four-star hotel, a leisure centre, creche and a private hospital. His name may be ubiquitous on the country's building sites, but his face is seldom seen and he does not do media interviews.
When he spoke to Dr Ivor Kenny for the 2001 book Leaders: Conversations with Irish Chief Executives McNamara concluded with this prescient observation: "The social requirements in many areas are changing dramatically because of our changed demographics. It is an interesting time to be involved. Hopefully we can make a contribution."
He spoke about an American company he has partnered in projects, extolling their formula of mixed-income schemes. "These developments are rented to one-third full-market-rent tenants;
one-third social-welfare tenants; and one-third assisted-income tenants. The management is supplemented by a significant social worker back-up and strong tenant involvement. This results in developments which have social housing integrated right through the scheme, but are also sought after by full-market-rent tenants because of their high quality and management. It is a surprise to most people when they learn that Eastern Health Board rent subsidies in Dublin are over IR£80m per annum and that much of it is in poor quality accommodation. There is a sizeable business opportunity here as well as an important social requirement."
The company he was alluding to is Corcoran Jennison, founded by an Irish immigrant from Roscommon, which has two Irish subsidiaries. The company partnered Pierce Construction in bidding for the five PPP schemes in Dublin that ground to a stop last week and came out second in the tender process behind Castlethorn/McNamara in four of them. In the fifth, the O'Devaney Gardens regeneration, it made the top monetary bid but lost out on design and schedule.
Asked if his company would be prepared now to finish the O'Devaney Gardens project if invited by Dublin City Council, Miles Byrne, director of development for Corcoran Jennison in Ireland, said:
"We haven't heard from them but, yes, absolutely, we can do it. We're so sad for the families in O'Devaney Gardens. I toured there on numerous occasions and met hundreds of residents. I had a sense they really had a group you could work with and create a new community. I was walking those hallways at 11 o'clock at night and people were welcoming me into their homes. There are so many people who live in those urine-stained and graffitied apartments and yet they keep those apartments so well."
'Where's plan B?'
In the office of the regeneration board, a small wooden model of the planned development sits on the table, amid leaflets demanding: "O'Devaney Gardens want a future. Where's plan B?" There was going to be a football pitch on the roof of one apartment block and various green oases on the ground. Less well-known is that two creches were planned; one for the private tenants and the other for the social-welfare tenants. The children, who seem to be in the majority among the residents, had been brought in for the consultation about the design of the community centre. The school of thought that private buyers would be deterred by the idea of living in close proximity with public housing residents is matched by the suspicion that rental investors and absent landlords would cause a rapid deterioration in quality.
"Mr McNamara has left us high and dry, " believes Ruth Murphy, a lone mother of four young children.
"The council has told us it can't sue for breach of contract because it would end up stalled in the courts for years and nothing would be happening here in the meantime. There's already an awful lot of money spent on consultations, going out to tender, legal work, architects. The council made sure that we as tenants had independent legal advice the whole way along. I think a quarter of a million euro was spent on Portakabins alone and there's temporary accommodation in three different sites for the people who've moved out."
But, as the rebuilding of O'Devaney Gardens turns into a standoff between the council and the developers, the decline that set in over a decade ago goes on inexorably. In July, the four earmarked blocks will be demolished. Buried among that rubble will be the dust of the community's playschool.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Were it to be described in an auctioneer's brochure a year ago, when development land this near the Spire was making ?20m an acre, hyperbole would have been unnecessary for 14 acres beside the Phoenix Park and Heuston railway station and Collins Barracks museum and Smithfield and the Four Courts, the centre of the capital city touchable from the red Luas line.
Today the iron railings the builders erected to section off the first phase of construction give the whole place an appearance of dashed dreams, like Miss Havisham in her yellowed wedding dress.
Dishevelled men clutching bottles of spirits come from outside the estate at all hours to shelter in the lee of the four blocks that are boarded up like famine ship trunks and waiting to be demolished in the summer. The 64 tenants moved out temporarily more than three years ago. How time flies in a place where everything else stands still.
"We've the biggest back garden in the world, " Nadine Murphy boasts with a nod towards the Phoenix Park and a rueful smile. Next week, she and her fellow residents will be writing to two of that garden's denizens, the president and the Taoiseach, asking for support in their quest for a decent place to live.
"If they use public transport, they'll pass O'Devaney Gardens on the No 10, " Murphy offers helpfully. "Brian Cowen is going to be moving into a lovely new house in the park. He should look after his neighbours because we'll look after him." On the wall behind her head in the regeneration board's office on the ground floor of the farmost block, an A4 sheet of paper concludes: "People passed over for profit." Some men come and go outside in the hallway, piling machine-cut planks of cheap wood on the floor. "For the banners, " explains the young mother. "We're not going to give up the fight.
We're not bricks and mortar. We have hearts and our hearts have been broken."
It was all supposed to be so different. The band played, the flags and the marquee fluttered and the children got their faces painted on 12 February last year when Bertie Ahern and Bernard McNamara came to celebrate the signing of the regeneration project, eight years after the tenants first saw architects' drawings. The Taoiseach had dropped by in December 2005 to share the wonderful news with his Dublin Central constituents that a developer had been chosen. The McNamara/Castlethorn partnership won for their design and schedule submissions, though their projected gross revenues were less than the secondplaced bidder, Pierce Construction and the Boston-based Corcoran Jennison. The job was to have been finished by the end of next year.
"I met Bernard McNamara the day the agreement was signed, " Nadine recalls. "When I walked back home to my flat I really believed he had the community interest at heart because he said, 'Whatever I can do for the community I will do, ' and the only thing he's done is turn his back on us. It's up to the government now to get this built." The tenants, she says, are seeking meetings with the ministers for finance, the environment and housing.
Poignantly, the only guarantee they have secured from Dublin City Council is that the ?20,000 it provides for the annual Regeneration Festival in August is still available.
"We're running out of time, " says Antoinette Mullen, giving a guided tour of the three-bedroom flat she shares with her husband and their two teenage daughters. There is no space for a kitchen or dining table which means they eat all their meals from plates balanced on their laps. "We wanted to get a mortgage for the affordable housing and we've been holding off, " she explains, "but we're both 35 and we'll soon be at the age that we won't qualify for a mortgage." (Contrary to popular perception, everyone in O'Devaney Gardens who was interviewed for this article is employed and pays tax. ) Biting off more than he can chew Sympathy for Bernard McNamara, the multimillionaire former Fianna Fail county councillor from Lisdoonvarna, is as scarce in O'Devaney Gardens as optimism. Flimsy information about his Ailesbury Road mansion, with its swimming pool and ballroom, and his possession of a helicopter and the Shelbourne Hotel, give an edge to the flat-dwellers' feelings of dejection. They are in no mood to commiserate with the businessman for his troubles. "He's walking away from ?900m worth of work on five projects.
Wouldn't you wonder if he's bitten off more than he can chew? , " says Antoinette Mullen. "I don't think the government should ask him to build the new prison if he's going to leave us in the lurch."
(McNamara's company is building the new prison complex at Thornton Hall in north Dublin. ) Asked if the speculation that he is in financial trouble is true, in light of his withdrawal from the five Private-Public Partnership (PPP) schemes for Dublin City Council, Bernard McNamara's spokesman replied: "The decision in relation to these PPPs was taken because of a combination of two things - the downturn in the marketplace and fundamental changes to the schemes that would have required a new planning application." The spokesman confirmed that the developer "believes the PPPs are too complicated."
Bernard McNamara, who inherited his father's building company, Michael McNamara & Company, is the Greta Garbo of Irish property developers, despite his ubiquity on the Irish landscape.
He owns the Radisson in Galway, the Shelbourne and the Parknasilla Great Southern in Kerry. He sold his 14.5% share of the Superquinn chain last summer but retains his ownership of the Champion Sports retail chain. He is offloading the Ormond Hotel on the Dublin quays and the Grafton Street buildings which house the Richard Alan and Zerep shops, reputedly in order to assemble a portfolio of development properties at the back of the Westbury Hotel, as part of a consortium. He is developing the massive Glass Bottle site in Ringsend and is, according to his spokesman, on schedule and on budget with both this and his ?lm Park development, comprising 400 homes, 28,000sq m of offices, a 169-bed, four-star hotel, a leisure centre, creche and a private hospital. His name may be ubiquitous on the country's building sites, but his face is seldom seen and he does not do media interviews.
When he spoke to Dr Ivor Kenny for the 2001 book Leaders: Conversations with Irish Chief Executives McNamara concluded with this prescient observation: "The social requirements in many areas are changing dramatically because of our changed demographics. It is an interesting time to be involved. Hopefully we can make a contribution."
He spoke about an American company he has partnered in projects, extolling their formula of mixed-income schemes. "These developments are rented to one-third full-market-rent tenants;
one-third social-welfare tenants; and one-third assisted-income tenants. The management is supplemented by a significant social worker back-up and strong tenant involvement. This results in developments which have social housing integrated right through the scheme, but are also sought after by full-market-rent tenants because of their high quality and management. It is a surprise to most people when they learn that Eastern Health Board rent subsidies in Dublin are over IR£80m per annum and that much of it is in poor quality accommodation. There is a sizeable business opportunity here as well as an important social requirement."
The company he was alluding to is Corcoran Jennison, founded by an Irish immigrant from Roscommon, which has two Irish subsidiaries. The company partnered Pierce Construction in bidding for the five PPP schemes in Dublin that ground to a stop last week and came out second in the tender process behind Castlethorn/McNamara in four of them. In the fifth, the O'Devaney Gardens regeneration, it made the top monetary bid but lost out on design and schedule.
Asked if his company would be prepared now to finish the O'Devaney Gardens project if invited by Dublin City Council, Miles Byrne, director of development for Corcoran Jennison in Ireland, said:
"We haven't heard from them but, yes, absolutely, we can do it. We're so sad for the families in O'Devaney Gardens. I toured there on numerous occasions and met hundreds of residents. I had a sense they really had a group you could work with and create a new community. I was walking those hallways at 11 o'clock at night and people were welcoming me into their homes. There are so many people who live in those urine-stained and graffitied apartments and yet they keep those apartments so well."
'Where's plan B?'
In the office of the regeneration board, a small wooden model of the planned development sits on the table, amid leaflets demanding: "O'Devaney Gardens want a future. Where's plan B?" There was going to be a football pitch on the roof of one apartment block and various green oases on the ground. Less well-known is that two creches were planned; one for the private tenants and the other for the social-welfare tenants. The children, who seem to be in the majority among the residents, had been brought in for the consultation about the design of the community centre. The school of thought that private buyers would be deterred by the idea of living in close proximity with public housing residents is matched by the suspicion that rental investors and absent landlords would cause a rapid deterioration in quality.
"Mr McNamara has left us high and dry, " believes Ruth Murphy, a lone mother of four young children.
"The council has told us it can't sue for breach of contract because it would end up stalled in the courts for years and nothing would be happening here in the meantime. There's already an awful lot of money spent on consultations, going out to tender, legal work, architects. The council made sure that we as tenants had independent legal advice the whole way along. I think a quarter of a million euro was spent on Portakabins alone and there's temporary accommodation in three different sites for the people who've moved out."
But, as the rebuilding of O'Devaney Gardens turns into a standoff between the council and the developers, the decline that set in over a decade ago goes on inexorably. In July, the four earmarked blocks will be demolished. Buried among that rubble will be the dust of the community's playschool.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Urban dreams are turned to rubble
This week, developer Bernard McNamara decided to walk away from five public-private housing projects in Dublin. Why was the city council unable to prevent a disaster for inner-city Dublin?
THIS HAS BEEN the week when the slump in the construction industry was thrown into the sharpest relief yet. As the State's biggest builder walked away from €1 billion worth of business, even the most optimistic talker-uppers in the industry were forced into silence.
It might have been just coincidence that Fianna Fáil decided at the same time to fold its tent at the Galway Races, but the demise of its traditional thank-you bash for loyal and supportive developers was yet another sign that the game was up in the property sector.
Economic fortunes rise and fall, but, when the history books are eventually written, the question that will preoccupy academics is likely to be how we managed to squander so many of the fruits of the longest boom in the State's history.
We know already about the ailing health service and our bulging classrooms. To the list, we must now add the failure of the Celtic Tiger to improve housing conditions for our poorest and most vulnerable citizens. Almost 20 years of prosperity and we are still left with crumbling flat complexes and their accompanying social problems in many parts of Dublin.
The withdrawal of developer Bernard McNamara from five public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the capital is a disaster for inner-city Dublin, and not just for the estates that were to be regenerated. The rebuilding of St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, for example, involved not only the provision of private and public housing, but also a library, a civic centre, a health clinic and a shopping centre.
"It wasn't just about rebuilding a few flats, it was about social regeneration," says Peter Ward, chairman of the O'Devaney Gardens Regeneration Board. Because the surrounding communities were so closely involved in drawing up the plans, and both private and public housing was envisaged, the regeneration schemes held out the promise of an end to social segregation and the sink estates that had grown up over time in the city's social black spots.
The writing has been on the wall for the schemes since last year, when McNamara first started dragging his heels.
"We all knew from last summer that he was starting to get cold feet," says Ward.
Yet Dublin City Council seemed to be the last to know. Almost a fortnight ago, when The Irish Times, having heard rumours about the projects' demise, first contacted the council's press office, the reply was that it was "business as usual" between the council and the developer. Even as all involved in the projects insisted they were doomed, the council and McNamara continued to claim for five days that they were still in negotiations. The plug was finally pulled this week.
If the council was using this time to come up with a plan B, its existence wasn't evident when the axe fell. The council could sue the developer, as contracts were signed for at least two of the schemes, but sources say it has no stomach to start such a fight. Litigation could block development on the sites for years and, it is thought, the council's decision to set increased minimum sizes for apartments, agreed after the PPPs were signed, could give McNamara wriggle room in the courts.
Going to the underbidders is another option, but not one that inspires much hope. Developers everywhere are strapped for cash, and the cost of borrowing has rocketed. Few will take on these projects without being allowed to build significantly more private housing, which would be resisted by local interests.
As Ward points out, the communities involved have already made significant compromises in agreeing to the PPP route. In O'Devaney Gardens, for example, this involved accepting an eight-storey block of private apartments beside the social housing.
Perhaps the Government can be persuaded to cough up more capital funding for social housing, but this isn't a solution either. At St Michael's, for example, there is already planning permission to build social housing for the existing residents on four of the 14 acres. But such a plan threatens to repeat the mistakes of the past by creating ghettoes bereft of social supports and unintegrated with the local community.
THE COLLAPSE OF the schemes highlights the continuing failure of the Government to tackle the housing crisis. There are currently 44,000 households on housing waiting lists, and some have been there for up to a decade. The old, discredited model of segregated social housing has not been replaced by a working alternative.
Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 was supposed to improve matters by requiring developers to provide 20 per cent social and affordable housing as part of their schemes. However, this stipulation was stiffly resisted by developers, the Act was watered down, and for years the scheme has failed to provide social housing to any meaningful extent.
Only in the past year has Part V begun to provide the promised housing units, which, ironically, are now coming on stream in a glut, according to David Burke of Focus Ireland. He says the money available for social housing is being diverted to pay for Part V housing provided by developers, partly because local authorities are afraid of being sued if they don't pay up promptly. Yet the housing provided under Part V is more likely to be affordable units, which enjoy greater public acceptance, than it is to be social housing.
"Social housing has not been able to perform in the housing market of the Celtic Tiger," he says. "It simply can't compete with the likes of Bernard McNamara, Sean Dunne, etc."
PPPs were vaunted as the mechanism for delivering the houses and apartments needed. The idea is simple: the council gives the developer a valuable plot of inner-city land, the developer builds an agreed number of social and affordable housing units and community facilities and is then free to develop the rest of the site for private accommodation at a profit.
But here again, as Burke points out, it was an "unequal match" in negotiations between local authority officials, earning €40,000 a year, and the developers with their battalions of advisers. The result, despite years of consultation within communities and a bidding process, was a series of deals that seem to be insufficiently binding.
"It's clear the negotiations dragged on for years. If you don't nail down something comprehensively and you leave negotiations ill-defined, this is the kind of thing that is bound to happen," says Burke.
QUESTIONS HAVE ALSO been asked about how McNamara managed to secure so many contracts, effectively leaving the council with far too many eggs in one basket. The local regeneration boards don't know what's happening because, once McNamara was chosen, they withdrew from the process and left the fine print to the council. Board members haven't even seen the contracts and don't know why the developer has been able to walk away so easily.
Having handed over the construction of new units to the private sector, local authorities are also busily offloading their existing stock. Some 330,000 housing units have been provided by the State since its foundation; of these, two-thirds have been sold off. As many an owner of a bijou two-up-two-down house in Dublin will know, these dwellings were in many cases sold off for a pittance to tenants, who then sold them on at greatly increased prices.
Now, Dublin City Council wants to sell off individual flats in its complexes and, surprise surprise, enterprising tenants are lining up for a bargain. Furious efforts are being made to overcome the quite obvious legal and practical difficulties involved in the part-sale of flat complexes, and up to 16,000 apartments in the city could be sold to their owners within a few years.
But, as Burke explains, this is creating a process known as "residualisation". "The best-quality units will be sold to the best-quality tenants. That leaves the worst accommodation for the most needy people." And all the accompanying social problems too.
Bernard McNamara has pulled out of his deals with the council because Dublin already has thousands of unsold apartments, and prices are plummeting. The credit crunch is hiking up the cost of bank loans, of which he already has plenty.
Much of the building boom from which McNamara and other developers benefited was driven by generous tax breaks from government. In some counties, up to 30 per cent of housing units lie empty. In Dublin, council planners helped to drive the developers' profits up further by raising the roof on the city and permitting the construction of multi-storey blocks.
The result is a glut of housing which isn't needed, isn't occupied and is in the wrong places, and a dearth of housing which is urgently needed and which is suitable for families to live in. In Dublin alone, 2,000 households are trying to come out of homelessness each year, yet places can be found for just 300 of them.
In a state of half-demolition, the five PPP schemes "look like Beirut", in the words of one councillor. Such dereliction is a magnet for anti-social activity - fights in the alleyways, drug-dealing on the stairwells, drinking parties by the braziers.
So what now, now that the kitty is empty and the developers have bolted? For now, no one really knows, but as Peter Ward insists of the regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens: "No matter how it's done, it has to happen."
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
THIS HAS BEEN the week when the slump in the construction industry was thrown into the sharpest relief yet. As the State's biggest builder walked away from €1 billion worth of business, even the most optimistic talker-uppers in the industry were forced into silence.
It might have been just coincidence that Fianna Fáil decided at the same time to fold its tent at the Galway Races, but the demise of its traditional thank-you bash for loyal and supportive developers was yet another sign that the game was up in the property sector.
Economic fortunes rise and fall, but, when the history books are eventually written, the question that will preoccupy academics is likely to be how we managed to squander so many of the fruits of the longest boom in the State's history.
We know already about the ailing health service and our bulging classrooms. To the list, we must now add the failure of the Celtic Tiger to improve housing conditions for our poorest and most vulnerable citizens. Almost 20 years of prosperity and we are still left with crumbling flat complexes and their accompanying social problems in many parts of Dublin.
The withdrawal of developer Bernard McNamara from five public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the capital is a disaster for inner-city Dublin, and not just for the estates that were to be regenerated. The rebuilding of St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, for example, involved not only the provision of private and public housing, but also a library, a civic centre, a health clinic and a shopping centre.
"It wasn't just about rebuilding a few flats, it was about social regeneration," says Peter Ward, chairman of the O'Devaney Gardens Regeneration Board. Because the surrounding communities were so closely involved in drawing up the plans, and both private and public housing was envisaged, the regeneration schemes held out the promise of an end to social segregation and the sink estates that had grown up over time in the city's social black spots.
The writing has been on the wall for the schemes since last year, when McNamara first started dragging his heels.
"We all knew from last summer that he was starting to get cold feet," says Ward.
Yet Dublin City Council seemed to be the last to know. Almost a fortnight ago, when The Irish Times, having heard rumours about the projects' demise, first contacted the council's press office, the reply was that it was "business as usual" between the council and the developer. Even as all involved in the projects insisted they were doomed, the council and McNamara continued to claim for five days that they were still in negotiations. The plug was finally pulled this week.
If the council was using this time to come up with a plan B, its existence wasn't evident when the axe fell. The council could sue the developer, as contracts were signed for at least two of the schemes, but sources say it has no stomach to start such a fight. Litigation could block development on the sites for years and, it is thought, the council's decision to set increased minimum sizes for apartments, agreed after the PPPs were signed, could give McNamara wriggle room in the courts.
Going to the underbidders is another option, but not one that inspires much hope. Developers everywhere are strapped for cash, and the cost of borrowing has rocketed. Few will take on these projects without being allowed to build significantly more private housing, which would be resisted by local interests.
As Ward points out, the communities involved have already made significant compromises in agreeing to the PPP route. In O'Devaney Gardens, for example, this involved accepting an eight-storey block of private apartments beside the social housing.
Perhaps the Government can be persuaded to cough up more capital funding for social housing, but this isn't a solution either. At St Michael's, for example, there is already planning permission to build social housing for the existing residents on four of the 14 acres. But such a plan threatens to repeat the mistakes of the past by creating ghettoes bereft of social supports and unintegrated with the local community.
THE COLLAPSE OF the schemes highlights the continuing failure of the Government to tackle the housing crisis. There are currently 44,000 households on housing waiting lists, and some have been there for up to a decade. The old, discredited model of segregated social housing has not been replaced by a working alternative.
Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 was supposed to improve matters by requiring developers to provide 20 per cent social and affordable housing as part of their schemes. However, this stipulation was stiffly resisted by developers, the Act was watered down, and for years the scheme has failed to provide social housing to any meaningful extent.
Only in the past year has Part V begun to provide the promised housing units, which, ironically, are now coming on stream in a glut, according to David Burke of Focus Ireland. He says the money available for social housing is being diverted to pay for Part V housing provided by developers, partly because local authorities are afraid of being sued if they don't pay up promptly. Yet the housing provided under Part V is more likely to be affordable units, which enjoy greater public acceptance, than it is to be social housing.
"Social housing has not been able to perform in the housing market of the Celtic Tiger," he says. "It simply can't compete with the likes of Bernard McNamara, Sean Dunne, etc."
PPPs were vaunted as the mechanism for delivering the houses and apartments needed. The idea is simple: the council gives the developer a valuable plot of inner-city land, the developer builds an agreed number of social and affordable housing units and community facilities and is then free to develop the rest of the site for private accommodation at a profit.
But here again, as Burke points out, it was an "unequal match" in negotiations between local authority officials, earning €40,000 a year, and the developers with their battalions of advisers. The result, despite years of consultation within communities and a bidding process, was a series of deals that seem to be insufficiently binding.
"It's clear the negotiations dragged on for years. If you don't nail down something comprehensively and you leave negotiations ill-defined, this is the kind of thing that is bound to happen," says Burke.
QUESTIONS HAVE ALSO been asked about how McNamara managed to secure so many contracts, effectively leaving the council with far too many eggs in one basket. The local regeneration boards don't know what's happening because, once McNamara was chosen, they withdrew from the process and left the fine print to the council. Board members haven't even seen the contracts and don't know why the developer has been able to walk away so easily.
Having handed over the construction of new units to the private sector, local authorities are also busily offloading their existing stock. Some 330,000 housing units have been provided by the State since its foundation; of these, two-thirds have been sold off. As many an owner of a bijou two-up-two-down house in Dublin will know, these dwellings were in many cases sold off for a pittance to tenants, who then sold them on at greatly increased prices.
Now, Dublin City Council wants to sell off individual flats in its complexes and, surprise surprise, enterprising tenants are lining up for a bargain. Furious efforts are being made to overcome the quite obvious legal and practical difficulties involved in the part-sale of flat complexes, and up to 16,000 apartments in the city could be sold to their owners within a few years.
But, as Burke explains, this is creating a process known as "residualisation". "The best-quality units will be sold to the best-quality tenants. That leaves the worst accommodation for the most needy people." And all the accompanying social problems too.
Bernard McNamara has pulled out of his deals with the council because Dublin already has thousands of unsold apartments, and prices are plummeting. The credit crunch is hiking up the cost of bank loans, of which he already has plenty.
Much of the building boom from which McNamara and other developers benefited was driven by generous tax breaks from government. In some counties, up to 30 per cent of housing units lie empty. In Dublin, council planners helped to drive the developers' profits up further by raising the roof on the city and permitting the construction of multi-storey blocks.
The result is a glut of housing which isn't needed, isn't occupied and is in the wrong places, and a dearth of housing which is urgently needed and which is suitable for families to live in. In Dublin alone, 2,000 households are trying to come out of homelessness each year, yet places can be found for just 300 of them.
In a state of half-demolition, the five PPP schemes "look like Beirut", in the words of one councillor. Such dereliction is a magnet for anti-social activity - fights in the alleyways, drug-dealing on the stairwells, drinking parties by the braziers.
So what now, now that the kitty is empty and the developers have bolted? For now, no one really knows, but as Peter Ward insists of the regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens: "No matter how it's done, it has to happen."
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Housing becomes unaffordable
Is Bernard McNamara’s row-back on a social development scheme justified?
The slowdown in the property market hit those on the bottom rung of the social ladder last week, when developer Bernard McNamara announced he would not be going ahead with €900 million worth of social and affordable housing schemes in Dublin city.
In the past, a slowdown in property would not affect social housing projects in places like O’Devaney Gardens or Sean McDermott Street, but because this was a public-private partnership, McNamara was due to recoup some of the cost of building social and affordable housing from selling private houses he would build on these sites.
A fall-off in the price he could expect to achieve for those private units would affect the whole financial basis on which the original deal was struck.
For McNamara, it wasn’t about pulling out. In a letter to Dublin City Council he described it more as a marriage that ‘‘it has not been possible to consummate’’.
Back in 2005 and 2006, McNamara won the tender to build 820 housing units at O’Devaney Gardens off the North Circular Road, 700 units at St Michael’s Estate in Inchicore, 360 units in Dominick Street, and others at Infirmary Road and Sean McDermott Street.
Each deal was different. Broadly speaking, he would get possession of the sites where there are old council houses and flats. He would build these new units and hand over around one third as social housing to Dublin City Council.
He would sell a further one third as affordable homes, which are subsidised and sold more cheaply than those on the open market. The final third he would sell himself and recoup his costs plus a profit.
McNamara has blamed a number of factors for not proceeding. These included changes in the rules governing the minimum size of apartments, under regulations that were introduced after he won the tenders.
He also cited delays in achieving planning permission and the fact that, where he was granted planning, it was either for a reduced number of units or it was appealed to An Bord Pleanála, causing further delay. The other main factor, he said, was the slowdown in the market.
In a letter to Dublin City Council, McNamara summed up his position. ‘‘The adversely changed circumstances of the current private housing market to that of 2005/ 2006, when the bids were submitted, along with the significant additional costs of increased apartment sizes and new energy regulations, have rendered the whole concept of using the sale of private housing units to fund social and affordable housing and community services along with a balancing site purchase figure, unsustainable in the current market, despite the best efforts of everybody involved.”
The reality is somewhat more complex. First, McNamara only signed contracts on two projects. These were the two where planning permission had been granted. It is understood that he would face some penalty clauses for pulling out of those contracts if the council were to show that the terms of the deal remained the same.
Secondly, where planning permission was granted, the new apartment size regulations do not apply. Third, where planning permission was not yet granted, he had not signed a binding contract at all and is free to walk away.
Correspondence between McNamara and Dublin City Council does reflect a genuine sense of frustration on the developer’s part with the complexity and delays in the process.
For example, in a letter dated last September, in relation to St Michael’s Estate, he asks whether, if he does not secure ‘‘acceptable’’ planning permission for Phase 2 of the project by December 2008 (as agreed in his original bid),the council could pay him €32 million. This ‘‘will facilitate Michael McNamara & Co securing construction finance for the completion of Phase 1’’.
‘‘Acceptable’’ planning, in this case, was permission for the same number of units as contained in the original bid.
McNamara can point to the fact that, in the planning process, there was the risk that the number of units would be reduced. In the case of Infirmary Road, the council agreed planning for 200 units but, after a Bord Pleanála appeal, this was reduced to 162.
McNamara can also point to the changes in the minimum size of apartments for the new schemes that would apply to those for which he does not yet have planning permission. This would also reduce his profit margin on the whole venture.
According to Des Geraghty, chairman of the Affordable Housing Partnership, which represents the Department of the Environment in putting these projects together, this setback is more likely to be a delay, rather than the end of these projects.
Joe Costello, Labour Party TD for Dublin Central, also sees this as a big disappointment, but not something that signals the end of these ventures.
It appears as if McNamara has genuine gripes about the changing market, the planning delays and the new regulations on some new units.
However, he is one of the most experienced property developers in the country. It is hard to imagine that, when he won these tenders by submitting far and away the lowest tender price, he didn’t realise the normal planning process would still apply.
Just because Dublin City Council agrees a tender with a developer to provide new units, does not mean that the normal rules of planning, where members of the public can object, are scrapped.
McNamara would have known this. One of the downsides is that the developer carries this risk in public-private partnerships of this kind. Sources say that McNamara would have known that Dublin City Council could not deliver an ‘‘appeal-free’’ process.
‘‘He signed up to this. There have been delays in planning, but the market was so buoyant in 2005 and 2006 that it was a risk worth taking. The potential returns were so massive. Now, they are not,” a source said.
Those involved in the affordable housing projects believe these developments will go ahead, but only following further lengthy delays. ‘‘If Dublin City Council has to put them out to tender again, it is practically back to square one,” one source said.
However, there are signs that McNamara will engage with Dublin City Council to see if a new formula can be found, to make the projects financially viable for the developer. One possibility would be to increase the price at which he can deliver the social and affordable houses.
Another would be for him to build his own private units on the site, with a view to renting them out, rather than selling them. The more compromises that are introduced into the process, the greater the possibility that the council will have to put them out to tender again. ‘‘The reality is that, in this falling market, the price of an affordable house is a lot closer to the full market price,’’ one source said.
McNamara has rightly pointed out that other developers who signed up for projects elsewhere are not progressing either. There are now doubts about the much-publicised Limerick regeneration project.
Whatever outcome is reached between the council and McNamara, could become the template for many of the other social and affordable housing public-private partnerships around the country. In the current economic environment, it is impossible to see the state proceeding alone and building these social housing units. In the end, those waiting for regeneration projects will have to wait.
Family furious about housing delay
Nadine Murphy and her teenage sons, Patrick and Peter, have spent years anticipating a move from their small two-bedroom flat in O’Devaney Gardens, to a new three-bed home, under Dublin City Council’s PPP agreement with builder Bernard McNamara.
However, her hopes for a new future were dashed when plans by the council and McNamara to build thousands of new units in a regeneration of five areas in Dublin city, collapsed.
Murphy’s mother moved into one of the 13 blocks of flats when they first opened in the 1950s and Murphy herself has had a home there for the past 13 years. Her sister, aunt, cousins and other relations also live there.
‘‘This week is the tenth anniversary of the first time a general public meeting was held here for the redevelopment of O’Devaney Gardens, and I am not going to wait another ten years for a new home,” said the Community Technical Aid worker.
‘‘The news that the developer pulled out was really a kick in the teeth. I have a two-bed flat with a tiny kitchenette and bathroom. My family, and all the others here, eat our dinners on our laps on the sofa because there is no dining area. You are almost hitting the wall in the bathroom when you get out of the shower.
‘‘Everyone was so happy here two years ago when we saw the regeneration plan that included apartments, duplexes and a community centre with a rooftop pitch. Now there is such dejection,” she said.
Anti-social behaviour has been increasing in recent weeks. An empty flat – one of 64 that will be demolished in July – was set on fire, along with a motorbike, according to Murphy, who said non-residents were coming into the complex and causing problems.
‘‘There are gangs now congregating here, and none of us know who these young people are,” Murphy said.
There will be an emergency meeting of the area’s regeneration board on Wednesday. Four resident representatives on this board, including Murphy, will demand to know what the council’s ‘Plan B’ is for them. Assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara and political and policing representatives are also board members.
‘‘I do not want to be a senior citizen when I get a new home,” Murphy said. ‘‘The flats may look depressing, but it is the 188 families who make O’Devaney Gardens a community. They have to keep their spirits up now, and fight for a better environment for their kids to grow up in.”
By Nicola Cooke
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
The slowdown in the property market hit those on the bottom rung of the social ladder last week, when developer Bernard McNamara announced he would not be going ahead with €900 million worth of social and affordable housing schemes in Dublin city.
In the past, a slowdown in property would not affect social housing projects in places like O’Devaney Gardens or Sean McDermott Street, but because this was a public-private partnership, McNamara was due to recoup some of the cost of building social and affordable housing from selling private houses he would build on these sites.
A fall-off in the price he could expect to achieve for those private units would affect the whole financial basis on which the original deal was struck.
For McNamara, it wasn’t about pulling out. In a letter to Dublin City Council he described it more as a marriage that ‘‘it has not been possible to consummate’’.
Back in 2005 and 2006, McNamara won the tender to build 820 housing units at O’Devaney Gardens off the North Circular Road, 700 units at St Michael’s Estate in Inchicore, 360 units in Dominick Street, and others at Infirmary Road and Sean McDermott Street.
Each deal was different. Broadly speaking, he would get possession of the sites where there are old council houses and flats. He would build these new units and hand over around one third as social housing to Dublin City Council.
He would sell a further one third as affordable homes, which are subsidised and sold more cheaply than those on the open market. The final third he would sell himself and recoup his costs plus a profit.
McNamara has blamed a number of factors for not proceeding. These included changes in the rules governing the minimum size of apartments, under regulations that were introduced after he won the tenders.
He also cited delays in achieving planning permission and the fact that, where he was granted planning, it was either for a reduced number of units or it was appealed to An Bord Pleanála, causing further delay. The other main factor, he said, was the slowdown in the market.
In a letter to Dublin City Council, McNamara summed up his position. ‘‘The adversely changed circumstances of the current private housing market to that of 2005/ 2006, when the bids were submitted, along with the significant additional costs of increased apartment sizes and new energy regulations, have rendered the whole concept of using the sale of private housing units to fund social and affordable housing and community services along with a balancing site purchase figure, unsustainable in the current market, despite the best efforts of everybody involved.”
The reality is somewhat more complex. First, McNamara only signed contracts on two projects. These were the two where planning permission had been granted. It is understood that he would face some penalty clauses for pulling out of those contracts if the council were to show that the terms of the deal remained the same.
Secondly, where planning permission was granted, the new apartment size regulations do not apply. Third, where planning permission was not yet granted, he had not signed a binding contract at all and is free to walk away.
Correspondence between McNamara and Dublin City Council does reflect a genuine sense of frustration on the developer’s part with the complexity and delays in the process.
For example, in a letter dated last September, in relation to St Michael’s Estate, he asks whether, if he does not secure ‘‘acceptable’’ planning permission for Phase 2 of the project by December 2008 (as agreed in his original bid),the council could pay him €32 million. This ‘‘will facilitate Michael McNamara & Co securing construction finance for the completion of Phase 1’’.
‘‘Acceptable’’ planning, in this case, was permission for the same number of units as contained in the original bid.
McNamara can point to the fact that, in the planning process, there was the risk that the number of units would be reduced. In the case of Infirmary Road, the council agreed planning for 200 units but, after a Bord Pleanála appeal, this was reduced to 162.
McNamara can also point to the changes in the minimum size of apartments for the new schemes that would apply to those for which he does not yet have planning permission. This would also reduce his profit margin on the whole venture.
According to Des Geraghty, chairman of the Affordable Housing Partnership, which represents the Department of the Environment in putting these projects together, this setback is more likely to be a delay, rather than the end of these projects.
Joe Costello, Labour Party TD for Dublin Central, also sees this as a big disappointment, but not something that signals the end of these ventures.
It appears as if McNamara has genuine gripes about the changing market, the planning delays and the new regulations on some new units.
However, he is one of the most experienced property developers in the country. It is hard to imagine that, when he won these tenders by submitting far and away the lowest tender price, he didn’t realise the normal planning process would still apply.
Just because Dublin City Council agrees a tender with a developer to provide new units, does not mean that the normal rules of planning, where members of the public can object, are scrapped.
McNamara would have known this. One of the downsides is that the developer carries this risk in public-private partnerships of this kind. Sources say that McNamara would have known that Dublin City Council could not deliver an ‘‘appeal-free’’ process.
‘‘He signed up to this. There have been delays in planning, but the market was so buoyant in 2005 and 2006 that it was a risk worth taking. The potential returns were so massive. Now, they are not,” a source said.
Those involved in the affordable housing projects believe these developments will go ahead, but only following further lengthy delays. ‘‘If Dublin City Council has to put them out to tender again, it is practically back to square one,” one source said.
However, there are signs that McNamara will engage with Dublin City Council to see if a new formula can be found, to make the projects financially viable for the developer. One possibility would be to increase the price at which he can deliver the social and affordable houses.
Another would be for him to build his own private units on the site, with a view to renting them out, rather than selling them. The more compromises that are introduced into the process, the greater the possibility that the council will have to put them out to tender again. ‘‘The reality is that, in this falling market, the price of an affordable house is a lot closer to the full market price,’’ one source said.
McNamara has rightly pointed out that other developers who signed up for projects elsewhere are not progressing either. There are now doubts about the much-publicised Limerick regeneration project.
Whatever outcome is reached between the council and McNamara, could become the template for many of the other social and affordable housing public-private partnerships around the country. In the current economic environment, it is impossible to see the state proceeding alone and building these social housing units. In the end, those waiting for regeneration projects will have to wait.
Family furious about housing delay
Nadine Murphy and her teenage sons, Patrick and Peter, have spent years anticipating a move from their small two-bedroom flat in O’Devaney Gardens, to a new three-bed home, under Dublin City Council’s PPP agreement with builder Bernard McNamara.
However, her hopes for a new future were dashed when plans by the council and McNamara to build thousands of new units in a regeneration of five areas in Dublin city, collapsed.
Murphy’s mother moved into one of the 13 blocks of flats when they first opened in the 1950s and Murphy herself has had a home there for the past 13 years. Her sister, aunt, cousins and other relations also live there.
‘‘This week is the tenth anniversary of the first time a general public meeting was held here for the redevelopment of O’Devaney Gardens, and I am not going to wait another ten years for a new home,” said the Community Technical Aid worker.
‘‘The news that the developer pulled out was really a kick in the teeth. I have a two-bed flat with a tiny kitchenette and bathroom. My family, and all the others here, eat our dinners on our laps on the sofa because there is no dining area. You are almost hitting the wall in the bathroom when you get out of the shower.
‘‘Everyone was so happy here two years ago when we saw the regeneration plan that included apartments, duplexes and a community centre with a rooftop pitch. Now there is such dejection,” she said.
Anti-social behaviour has been increasing in recent weeks. An empty flat – one of 64 that will be demolished in July – was set on fire, along with a motorbike, according to Murphy, who said non-residents were coming into the complex and causing problems.
‘‘There are gangs now congregating here, and none of us know who these young people are,” Murphy said.
There will be an emergency meeting of the area’s regeneration board on Wednesday. Four resident representatives on this board, including Murphy, will demand to know what the council’s ‘Plan B’ is for them. Assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara and political and policing representatives are also board members.
‘‘I do not want to be a senior citizen when I get a new home,” Murphy said. ‘‘The flats may look depressing, but it is the 188 families who make O’Devaney Gardens a community. They have to keep their spirits up now, and fight for a better environment for their kids to grow up in.”
By Nicola Cooke
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
McNamara may discuss compromise housing deal
Property developer Bernard McNamara is expected to start discussions with Dublin City Council on how to salvage at least some of the five social and affordable housing schemes that are in jeopardy in the capital.
McNamara appeared to pull out of the schemes last week, but it is understood he has only signalled his intention to withdraw and has not formally pulled out of the schemes. The developer blamed changes in the property market, new apartment-size rules and planning delays for the decision not to go ahead.
However, sources close to McNamara indicated that he would be open to discussions on proceeding with the projects on revised terms. One possibility would be that he could increase his original tender price for the €900 million schemes, or build housing units with a view to renting them, rather than selling them.
Sources close to the projects indicated that neither side wanted to re-run the tendering process if a compromise could be found, based on a delay to the projects rather than shelving them.
However, it is difficult to change the existing contracts without issuing new tenders. McNamara denies pulling out of the projects, but said he found it impossible to conclude agreements. McNamara’s building firm, Michael McNamara & Co, is one of the biggest construction companies in the state, with about 520 staff.
However, the firm confirmed to The Sunday Business Post that it laid off ten head office staff and 19 site management staff in recent weeks. In a statement, the company said that further redundancies were likely ‘‘at the builders’ holidays, when a few of our projects are finishing’’.
The firm said it had not laid off as many employees as other developers. McNamara has a broad range of interests and last week received planning permission for the €1 billion development of a site that includes the Burlington Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
McNamara appeared to pull out of the schemes last week, but it is understood he has only signalled his intention to withdraw and has not formally pulled out of the schemes. The developer blamed changes in the property market, new apartment-size rules and planning delays for the decision not to go ahead.
However, sources close to McNamara indicated that he would be open to discussions on proceeding with the projects on revised terms. One possibility would be that he could increase his original tender price for the €900 million schemes, or build housing units with a view to renting them, rather than selling them.
Sources close to the projects indicated that neither side wanted to re-run the tendering process if a compromise could be found, based on a delay to the projects rather than shelving them.
However, it is difficult to change the existing contracts without issuing new tenders. McNamara denies pulling out of the projects, but said he found it impossible to conclude agreements. McNamara’s building firm, Michael McNamara & Co, is one of the biggest construction companies in the state, with about 520 staff.
However, the firm confirmed to The Sunday Business Post that it laid off ten head office staff and 19 site management staff in recent weeks. In a statement, the company said that further redundancies were likely ‘‘at the builders’ holidays, when a few of our projects are finishing’’.
The firm said it had not laid off as many employees as other developers. McNamara has a broad range of interests and last week received planning permission for the €1 billion development of a site that includes the Burlington Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
McNamara may discuss compromise housing deal
Property developer Bernard McNamara is expected to start discussions with Dublin City Council on how to salvage at least some of the five social and affordable housing schemes that are in jeopardy in the capital.
McNamara appeared to pull out of the schemes last week, but it is understood he has only signalled his intention to withdraw and has not formally pulled out of the schemes. The developer blamed changes in the property market, new apartment-size rules and planning delays for the decision not to go ahead.
However, sources close to McNamara indicated that he would be open to discussions on proceeding with the projects on revised terms. One possibility would be that he could increase his original tender price for the €900 million schemes, or build housing units with a view to renting them, rather than selling them.
Sources close to the projects indicated that neither side wanted to re-run the tendering process if a compromise could be found, based on a delay to the projects rather than shelving them.
However, it is difficult to change the existing contracts without issuing new tenders. McNamara denies pulling out of the projects, but said he found it impossible to conclude agreements. McNamara’s building firm, Michael McNamara & Co, is one of the biggest construction companies in the state, with about 520 staff.
However, the firm confirmed to The Sunday Business Post that it laid off ten head office staff and 19 site management staff in recent weeks. In a statement, the company said that further redundancies were likely ‘‘at the builders’ holidays, when a few of our projects are finishing’’.
The firm said it had not laid off as many employees as other developers. McNamara has a broad range of interests and last week received planning permission for the €1 billion development of a site that includes the Burlington Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
McNamara appeared to pull out of the schemes last week, but it is understood he has only signalled his intention to withdraw and has not formally pulled out of the schemes. The developer blamed changes in the property market, new apartment-size rules and planning delays for the decision not to go ahead.
However, sources close to McNamara indicated that he would be open to discussions on proceeding with the projects on revised terms. One possibility would be that he could increase his original tender price for the €900 million schemes, or build housing units with a view to renting them, rather than selling them.
Sources close to the projects indicated that neither side wanted to re-run the tendering process if a compromise could be found, based on a delay to the projects rather than shelving them.
However, it is difficult to change the existing contracts without issuing new tenders. McNamara denies pulling out of the projects, but said he found it impossible to conclude agreements. McNamara’s building firm, Michael McNamara & Co, is one of the biggest construction companies in the state, with about 520 staff.
However, the firm confirmed to The Sunday Business Post that it laid off ten head office staff and 19 site management staff in recent weeks. In a statement, the company said that further redundancies were likely ‘‘at the builders’ holidays, when a few of our projects are finishing’’.
The firm said it had not laid off as many employees as other developers. McNamara has a broad range of interests and last week received planning permission for the €1 billion development of a site that includes the Burlington Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
McNamara: 'I don't owe €1.5 billion'
MULTIMILLIONAIRE developer Bernard McNamara has mounted an all-out defence of his property empire over questions about his decision to pull the plug on his joint venture projects with the State in Dublin's inner city.
The Clare-born entrepreneur found himself dragged unwittingly into the spotlight with the announcement that his firm, McNamara & Co, was pulling out of five separate Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects to redevelop local authority estates in Dublin's inner city.
The multimillionaire builder and developer, who has come to symbolise the Irish property boom, cited tighter building regulations and requirements for larger apartment sizes as making the projects unviable.
But the decision -- and its timing -- has ignited controversy in property, financial and political circles.
Estimates in excess of €1.5bn in borrowings attributed to the high-flying property magnate's development portfolio were roundly rejected by sources close to Mr McNamara, as the developer battled to bring an end to a week of controversy.
News that McNamara had also put landmark assets up for sale while property prices are in free fall fuelled the controversy further.
Contacted by the Sunday Independent for comment, he said: "There's a lot I could say, but I'll say nothing ... ours is a private business and what we do is private."
But while the media-shy developer was remaining tight-lipped on the week's
events, others close to Mr McNamara moved in to defend the integrity of his property empire.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, a highly-placed source insisted there was no threat to the well-connected businessman from his massive property borrowings now, or into the future.
Asked to comment on McNamara's estimated borrowings of €1.5bn, a source close to the builder dismissed the figure. "The borrowings are significantly lower than that," he said, adding that Mr McNamara has a long-standing and substantial property portfolio from which he was earning significant rental income from the State.
The same source also pointed to the decision last Friday by Dublin City Council to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of the Burlington Hotel site, which it is speculated will be worth €1bn when completed in eight years' time.
Meanwhile, plans by the developer to break ground on the Burlington project in the spring of 2009 could face challenges which include the ongoing slowdown in the domestic economy.
In a clear illustration of the impact of the slump in construction, Ireland is now being abandoned as the destination of choice for Eastern European migrant workers, many of whom are now seeking their fortune elsewhere.
The number of migrant workers coming to Ireland has halved in the past 12 months and almost one third of those who have come since 2004 have left, new figures obtained by the Sunday Independent reveal. While the number of migrants in Ireland rose from 140,000 in 2004 to over 420,000 today, since the property slump took hold there has been a sharp reduction in the number of migrants from such Eastern European countries as Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia.
According to Integration Minister Conor Lenihan, numbers seeking work this year are set to halve, falling to between 32,500 and 35,000. Another key tracker of migrant workers shows that roughly one third of the migrants who came here since 2004 are no longer here.
By examining the PPS numbers of workers and the activity on those numbers in terms of income being paid and levels of taxation on that income, the Government can estimate the movement of those migrant workers. Of the PPS numbers created since 2004 for migrant workers, between 30 and 35 per cent of these are now 'inactive'. The most likely explanation for this, according to Minister Lenihan, is that these migrants have left the country.
While Ireland's slowdown has provided the trigger for the collapse in migrant numbers, two other key factors are also playing their part. London has become highly attractive to low-skilled manual labourers as a building boom takes hold ahead of the 2012 Olympics. Also Poland is experiencing an economic boom and is set to see growth of over 5.5 per cent this year -- unlike Ireland, which is stagnating. The Polish government has also embarked on a drive to encourage its citizens based in Ireland to return home to address its growing labour needs.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The Clare-born entrepreneur found himself dragged unwittingly into the spotlight with the announcement that his firm, McNamara & Co, was pulling out of five separate Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects to redevelop local authority estates in Dublin's inner city.
The multimillionaire builder and developer, who has come to symbolise the Irish property boom, cited tighter building regulations and requirements for larger apartment sizes as making the projects unviable.
But the decision -- and its timing -- has ignited controversy in property, financial and political circles.
Estimates in excess of €1.5bn in borrowings attributed to the high-flying property magnate's development portfolio were roundly rejected by sources close to Mr McNamara, as the developer battled to bring an end to a week of controversy.
News that McNamara had also put landmark assets up for sale while property prices are in free fall fuelled the controversy further.
Contacted by the Sunday Independent for comment, he said: "There's a lot I could say, but I'll say nothing ... ours is a private business and what we do is private."
But while the media-shy developer was remaining tight-lipped on the week's
events, others close to Mr McNamara moved in to defend the integrity of his property empire.
Speaking to the Sunday Independent, a highly-placed source insisted there was no threat to the well-connected businessman from his massive property borrowings now, or into the future.
Asked to comment on McNamara's estimated borrowings of €1.5bn, a source close to the builder dismissed the figure. "The borrowings are significantly lower than that," he said, adding that Mr McNamara has a long-standing and substantial property portfolio from which he was earning significant rental income from the State.
The same source also pointed to the decision last Friday by Dublin City Council to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of the Burlington Hotel site, which it is speculated will be worth €1bn when completed in eight years' time.
Meanwhile, plans by the developer to break ground on the Burlington project in the spring of 2009 could face challenges which include the ongoing slowdown in the domestic economy.
In a clear illustration of the impact of the slump in construction, Ireland is now being abandoned as the destination of choice for Eastern European migrant workers, many of whom are now seeking their fortune elsewhere.
The number of migrant workers coming to Ireland has halved in the past 12 months and almost one third of those who have come since 2004 have left, new figures obtained by the Sunday Independent reveal. While the number of migrants in Ireland rose from 140,000 in 2004 to over 420,000 today, since the property slump took hold there has been a sharp reduction in the number of migrants from such Eastern European countries as Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia.
According to Integration Minister Conor Lenihan, numbers seeking work this year are set to halve, falling to between 32,500 and 35,000. Another key tracker of migrant workers shows that roughly one third of the migrants who came here since 2004 are no longer here.
By examining the PPS numbers of workers and the activity on those numbers in terms of income being paid and levels of taxation on that income, the Government can estimate the movement of those migrant workers. Of the PPS numbers created since 2004 for migrant workers, between 30 and 35 per cent of these are now 'inactive'. The most likely explanation for this, according to Minister Lenihan, is that these migrants have left the country.
While Ireland's slowdown has provided the trigger for the collapse in migrant numbers, two other key factors are also playing their part. London has become highly attractive to low-skilled manual labourers as a building boom takes hold ahead of the 2012 Olympics. Also Poland is experiencing an economic boom and is set to see growth of over 5.5 per cent this year -- unlike Ireland, which is stagnating. The Polish government has also embarked on a drive to encourage its citizens based in Ireland to return home to address its growing labour needs.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 22 May 2008
State stands on the sidelines as private sector walks off with ball
Public- private partnerships allow the State to offload social responsibilities to the private sector but there can be no illusion as to who then calls the shots, writes Mary Corcoran
IN LATE 2005 the first residents moved into their new homes in Fatima Mansions, in Dublin's southwest inner city. An ambitious regeneration plan conceived in 2001 was finally coming to fruition.
Dublin City Council entered into a public-private partnership with a developer selected through a tendering process to demolish the existing blocks of flats and redevelop the 11-acre site abutting the Luas Red Line.
The first new residents received the keys to their new home from then taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who was on hand to launch the redevelopment. Ahern described the public-private partnership responsible for the redevelopment as "a pioneering flagship project for the housing sector". Indeed, he expressed his pleasure that the template for redevelopment undertaken at Fatima was being applied elsewhere in the city.
From the State's perspective, the major concerns of the Fatima regeneration project - the provision of high-quality public housing, the development of a sustainable community, and the creation of a socially cohesive neighbourhood - have long been identified as sociologically desirable.
But Fatima also represents part of a wider project attempting to create a new political economy of urban development. This is apparent in the proliferation of place marketing and place development, institutionally directed towards selected urban zones.
From a developer perspective, the regeneration of Fatima (and other similar projects) is fundamentally about turning a profit, and if that requires getting into bed with the State - through public-private partnership - then that is what they will do.
The local authorities have made themselves prominent players once more in the housing sector by promoting a public-private partnership agenda. Unlike in the past, however, the State's new role is one of limited liability. The State, or local authority, is not in the housing arena as an autonomous player but as an agent whose primary task it is to smooth the path for the private developer.
But as we have seen in the past few days, when the going gets tough, the developers get going, leaving the shattered dreams of disadvantaged communities in their wake.
The cost of poor planning was brought home to local authorities in the 1970s and 1980s with the breakdown of social order in many inner-city and suburban social housing estates. Attempts to engage in limited physical refurbishments were doomed to failure, and many of these estates entered a spiral of decline. Cosmetic solutions could not address their problems.
The local authority in Dublin began divesting itself of its housing responsibility by selling its housing stock to tenants, and by handing over troubled estates (or parts of them) to housing associations whose job it was to redevelop, manage and maintain them. It seemed as if the State had embarked on a gradual withdrawal from the housing arena.
By the turn of the century, the Fatima Mansions complex, and others like it, had come to be seen as unsustainable in their current form. The seemingly intractable problems associated with inner-city housing complexes required visionary and innovative solutions.
The re-emergence of the State as a prominent player in urban development must be seen against the backdrop of a number of key factors, including: the growing knowledge and awareness of how cities and neighbourhoods are managed in other European countries; the turn towards partnership at all institutional levels requiring a multi-player approach to problem-solving; the lure of public-private partnership as a means of delivering infrastructural projects in a timely fashion, and the impact of modernising management systems within the local authorities themselves.
This volte face on the part of the State must also be seen as a (somewhat belated) response to civil society protests about the failures of Irish urban planning and development. The conjunction of these factors with the rise of the Celtic Tiger economy, which was generating both resources and also new housing demands, made it possible for local authorities to begin to think outside of the box.
Against a national and international backdrop emphasising the importance of good planning in order to create sustainable communities, local authorities became more receptive to the idea of change. The principles of urban planning took on a new salience, as the failure of simple bricks-and-mortar solutions became apparent. Local authorities began to sign up to the idea that housing provision needs to be integrated with wider policies that address the social, economic, cultural and environmental aspects of everyday life.
The planning approach taken within Fatima reflects a new "sociological turn" in local authority policy. Having effectively abandoned Fatima Mansions and other similar estates in the closing decades of the 20th century, the State had finally come back in. In the case of Fatima, Dublin City Council assumed the driving instructor's seat (with the private sector in the driving seat) to guide the regeneration project. While the State has made the running on public-private partnership, crucially it is the private sector that will deliver (or not), and ultimately it is the private sector that will benefit from such redevelopment projects.
In Fatima, for example, the redevelopment is based on a public-private partnership, whereby in exchange for the land (owned by DCC) a private developer has built 396 private housing units, 70 affordable housing units and 150 social housing units. According to Michael Punch of UCD, public-private partnerships represent the hidden face of power, because they entail disposal of public-owned lands in the private interest, producing symbolic if not overt segregation. In effect the State, while coming back in as a housing player, has adopted an arm's-length or limited liability role in relation to urban redevelopment.
The Fatima regeneration project has been widely promoted as an example of how government can work in the interests of its citizens. The template produced in Fatima gave hope to other disadvantaged communities in St Michael's estate, O'Devaney Gardens (both projects now in doubt because of the withdrawal of developer Bernard McNamara from the PPP behind their regeneration), and across the State.
But while Dublin City Council has helped to make the Fatima regeneration happen, it has also relinquished ultimate control of the regeneration agenda to the developers. Ultimately, these urban regeneration projects are owned and delivered by private sector interests, with the State sitting on the sidelines.
The decision of McNamara to pull out of a number of planned redevelopments in Dublin city attests to the fragility of the public-private partnership project. The developers call the shots, and when they decide that their profit margins are not optimised through such developments, or that new regulations which require a higher standard of build are too cumbersome, they are extremely quick to pull the plug, leaving the State without a partner, and holding the baby.
Mary P Corcoran is Professor of Sociology at NUI Maynooth
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
IN LATE 2005 the first residents moved into their new homes in Fatima Mansions, in Dublin's southwest inner city. An ambitious regeneration plan conceived in 2001 was finally coming to fruition.
Dublin City Council entered into a public-private partnership with a developer selected through a tendering process to demolish the existing blocks of flats and redevelop the 11-acre site abutting the Luas Red Line.
The first new residents received the keys to their new home from then taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who was on hand to launch the redevelopment. Ahern described the public-private partnership responsible for the redevelopment as "a pioneering flagship project for the housing sector". Indeed, he expressed his pleasure that the template for redevelopment undertaken at Fatima was being applied elsewhere in the city.
From the State's perspective, the major concerns of the Fatima regeneration project - the provision of high-quality public housing, the development of a sustainable community, and the creation of a socially cohesive neighbourhood - have long been identified as sociologically desirable.
But Fatima also represents part of a wider project attempting to create a new political economy of urban development. This is apparent in the proliferation of place marketing and place development, institutionally directed towards selected urban zones.
From a developer perspective, the regeneration of Fatima (and other similar projects) is fundamentally about turning a profit, and if that requires getting into bed with the State - through public-private partnership - then that is what they will do.
The local authorities have made themselves prominent players once more in the housing sector by promoting a public-private partnership agenda. Unlike in the past, however, the State's new role is one of limited liability. The State, or local authority, is not in the housing arena as an autonomous player but as an agent whose primary task it is to smooth the path for the private developer.
But as we have seen in the past few days, when the going gets tough, the developers get going, leaving the shattered dreams of disadvantaged communities in their wake.
The cost of poor planning was brought home to local authorities in the 1970s and 1980s with the breakdown of social order in many inner-city and suburban social housing estates. Attempts to engage in limited physical refurbishments were doomed to failure, and many of these estates entered a spiral of decline. Cosmetic solutions could not address their problems.
The local authority in Dublin began divesting itself of its housing responsibility by selling its housing stock to tenants, and by handing over troubled estates (or parts of them) to housing associations whose job it was to redevelop, manage and maintain them. It seemed as if the State had embarked on a gradual withdrawal from the housing arena.
By the turn of the century, the Fatima Mansions complex, and others like it, had come to be seen as unsustainable in their current form. The seemingly intractable problems associated with inner-city housing complexes required visionary and innovative solutions.
The re-emergence of the State as a prominent player in urban development must be seen against the backdrop of a number of key factors, including: the growing knowledge and awareness of how cities and neighbourhoods are managed in other European countries; the turn towards partnership at all institutional levels requiring a multi-player approach to problem-solving; the lure of public-private partnership as a means of delivering infrastructural projects in a timely fashion, and the impact of modernising management systems within the local authorities themselves.
This volte face on the part of the State must also be seen as a (somewhat belated) response to civil society protests about the failures of Irish urban planning and development. The conjunction of these factors with the rise of the Celtic Tiger economy, which was generating both resources and also new housing demands, made it possible for local authorities to begin to think outside of the box.
Against a national and international backdrop emphasising the importance of good planning in order to create sustainable communities, local authorities became more receptive to the idea of change. The principles of urban planning took on a new salience, as the failure of simple bricks-and-mortar solutions became apparent. Local authorities began to sign up to the idea that housing provision needs to be integrated with wider policies that address the social, economic, cultural and environmental aspects of everyday life.
The planning approach taken within Fatima reflects a new "sociological turn" in local authority policy. Having effectively abandoned Fatima Mansions and other similar estates in the closing decades of the 20th century, the State had finally come back in. In the case of Fatima, Dublin City Council assumed the driving instructor's seat (with the private sector in the driving seat) to guide the regeneration project. While the State has made the running on public-private partnership, crucially it is the private sector that will deliver (or not), and ultimately it is the private sector that will benefit from such redevelopment projects.
In Fatima, for example, the redevelopment is based on a public-private partnership, whereby in exchange for the land (owned by DCC) a private developer has built 396 private housing units, 70 affordable housing units and 150 social housing units. According to Michael Punch of UCD, public-private partnerships represent the hidden face of power, because they entail disposal of public-owned lands in the private interest, producing symbolic if not overt segregation. In effect the State, while coming back in as a housing player, has adopted an arm's-length or limited liability role in relation to urban redevelopment.
The Fatima regeneration project has been widely promoted as an example of how government can work in the interests of its citizens. The template produced in Fatima gave hope to other disadvantaged communities in St Michael's estate, O'Devaney Gardens (both projects now in doubt because of the withdrawal of developer Bernard McNamara from the PPP behind their regeneration), and across the State.
But while Dublin City Council has helped to make the Fatima regeneration happen, it has also relinquished ultimate control of the regeneration agenda to the developers. Ultimately, these urban regeneration projects are owned and delivered by private sector interests, with the State sitting on the sidelines.
The decision of McNamara to pull out of a number of planned redevelopments in Dublin city attests to the fragility of the public-private partnership project. The developers call the shots, and when they decide that their profit margins are not optimised through such developments, or that new regulations which require a higher standard of build are too cumbersome, they are extremely quick to pull the plug, leaving the State without a partner, and holding the baby.
Mary P Corcoran is Professor of Sociology at NUI Maynooth
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
'I feel defeated,' says resident of flats
Two people who live in O'Devaney Gardens tell how everyone has now 'lost heart'
THE NEWS that the long-awaited regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens was not going ahead - in the short term at least - was "like a death in the family", said local resident and development worker Lena Jordan.
"People are so low; so absolutely devastated.
"There have been 10 years of working on the plan and meetings and getting people to agree on things and now, well, people just don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I feel defeated."
Yesterday morning saw two residents in the Dublin north side complex, Janice Flood and Bernice Keane, describe how everyone had "lost heart now".
Standing at the foot of one of the 13 blocks of flats on the 12.2-acre site, Ms Flood said residents had been told work would begin in February.
"Then they said June. There has been nothing done with the place for years. There's no playground for the kids. Nowhere for the teenagers to go."
The two stand near a grass clearing strewn with brown shards of glass, chocolate wrappers and rusting bottle caps.
As they describe life in the flat complex one can look up at empty, boarded-up flats, graffiti-covered windows, walls, doorways and stairwells, broken windows and litter everywhere.
No one lives in four of the blocks in preparation for their demolition, while others are almost empty.
"It's horrible living here - like Beirut," continues Ms Flood.
"It's wrong, the next generation having to live like this," she says, gesturing at two sons of a neighbour aged three and four. "They can't be let out for fresh air at all. They'd just get filthy."
No one knows what will happen now, said Ms Keane.
"We didn't even hear it until we read it in the paper this morning."
Martina Daly, another resident, says she was "furious".
"How can they let someone sign a contract and then let them leave us swinging in limbo.
"You can't leave people like that; string them along with hope and then leave them."
From the cramped balcony of her third floor flat, Ms Keane looks out towards the Phoenix Park and the Dublin mountains.
"Look at that view. It's beautiful. This used to be a gorgeous place to live.
"I've lived here all my life. Can't wait to get out now."
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
THE NEWS that the long-awaited regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens was not going ahead - in the short term at least - was "like a death in the family", said local resident and development worker Lena Jordan.
"People are so low; so absolutely devastated.
"There have been 10 years of working on the plan and meetings and getting people to agree on things and now, well, people just don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I feel defeated."
Yesterday morning saw two residents in the Dublin north side complex, Janice Flood and Bernice Keane, describe how everyone had "lost heart now".
Standing at the foot of one of the 13 blocks of flats on the 12.2-acre site, Ms Flood said residents had been told work would begin in February.
"Then they said June. There has been nothing done with the place for years. There's no playground for the kids. Nowhere for the teenagers to go."
The two stand near a grass clearing strewn with brown shards of glass, chocolate wrappers and rusting bottle caps.
As they describe life in the flat complex one can look up at empty, boarded-up flats, graffiti-covered windows, walls, doorways and stairwells, broken windows and litter everywhere.
No one lives in four of the blocks in preparation for their demolition, while others are almost empty.
"It's horrible living here - like Beirut," continues Ms Flood.
"It's wrong, the next generation having to live like this," she says, gesturing at two sons of a neighbour aged three and four. "They can't be let out for fresh air at all. They'd just get filthy."
No one knows what will happen now, said Ms Keane.
"We didn't even hear it until we read it in the paper this morning."
Martina Daly, another resident, says she was "furious".
"How can they let someone sign a contract and then let them leave us swinging in limbo.
"You can't leave people like that; string them along with hope and then leave them."
From the cramped balcony of her third floor flat, Ms Keane looks out towards the Phoenix Park and the Dublin mountains.
"Look at that view. It's beautiful. This used to be a gorgeous place to live.
"I've lived here all my life. Can't wait to get out now."
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Public-private partnership rules to be reviewed
THE GOVERNMENT is to order a review of the rules governing public private partnership housing deals with private developers, following the decision of a leading construction firm to pull out of five deals in Dublin.
In all, the State and local authorities are involved in up to 15 such partnerships in the capital and a smaller number elsewhere in the State.
Although a review would take months, Minister of State for Finance Michael Finneran last night insisted that the State needed private builders to be involved in such developments. He said there "is no going back" to the large local authority estates of the past.
Meanwhile, Dublin City Council is seeking legal advice as to whether it can impose penalties on developer Bernard McNamara - although some close to the projects say that penalties are not explicitly stated in the contracts.
A council spokesman confirmed senior officials would meet Department of the Environment officials today or tomorrow to discuss how to get the regeneration plans, now on hold, underway. They are worth a total of €900 million.
"Our lawyers are weighing up our options. We will await their advice. Our priority is to get the projects back up and running. A lot of preparatory work has been done and the projects cannot be left."
Among the affected projects are the €265 million redevelopment of St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, the €200 million plan for Seán McDermott Street and the €180 million regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens, off the North Circular Road.
Mr McNamara is understood to have withdrawn from the projects because of a downturn in the housing market and changes to planning regulations for apartments.
The Department of the Environment last night said that the first of the developments would not have been covered by the new tougher building regulations because planning permission had been granted in advance of their introduction.
A spokesman for the Department said the meeting with DCC officials was being scheduled "with urgency", adding that funding and the use of PPPs for social and affordable housing would be on the agenda.
The Society of St Vincent de Paul said the situation exposed how unsuitable PPPs were for providing social and affordable housing.
Meanwhile, Mr McNamara's company is still in talks with the State about building the Thornton jail in north Dublin, 14 months after it was selected as the preferred bidder by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
Asked if there were any difficulties in agreeing the final terms of the contract, a Department of Justice spokesman said: "Negotiations with this preferred bidder are at an advanced stage".
Labour's Senator Alex White said the collapse of the public-private partnerships in Dublin is a symbol of the times - where the poor are the first to suffer from an economic downturn.
"It demonstrates the folly of our over-reliance, particularly in recent years, on the private sector to address pressing social problems and concerns. We have become completely obsessed with outsourcing everything to the private sector and have little or no confidence in our ability or the ability of a properly funded public sector to take the lead in issues such as this," he said.
Sinn Féin Dublin South Central TD, Aengus Ó Snódaigh said: "The effect of this is that hundreds of much-needed social housing units will not be built in the near future."
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
In all, the State and local authorities are involved in up to 15 such partnerships in the capital and a smaller number elsewhere in the State.
Although a review would take months, Minister of State for Finance Michael Finneran last night insisted that the State needed private builders to be involved in such developments. He said there "is no going back" to the large local authority estates of the past.
Meanwhile, Dublin City Council is seeking legal advice as to whether it can impose penalties on developer Bernard McNamara - although some close to the projects say that penalties are not explicitly stated in the contracts.
A council spokesman confirmed senior officials would meet Department of the Environment officials today or tomorrow to discuss how to get the regeneration plans, now on hold, underway. They are worth a total of €900 million.
"Our lawyers are weighing up our options. We will await their advice. Our priority is to get the projects back up and running. A lot of preparatory work has been done and the projects cannot be left."
Among the affected projects are the €265 million redevelopment of St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, the €200 million plan for Seán McDermott Street and the €180 million regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens, off the North Circular Road.
Mr McNamara is understood to have withdrawn from the projects because of a downturn in the housing market and changes to planning regulations for apartments.
The Department of the Environment last night said that the first of the developments would not have been covered by the new tougher building regulations because planning permission had been granted in advance of their introduction.
A spokesman for the Department said the meeting with DCC officials was being scheduled "with urgency", adding that funding and the use of PPPs for social and affordable housing would be on the agenda.
The Society of St Vincent de Paul said the situation exposed how unsuitable PPPs were for providing social and affordable housing.
Meanwhile, Mr McNamara's company is still in talks with the State about building the Thornton jail in north Dublin, 14 months after it was selected as the preferred bidder by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
Asked if there were any difficulties in agreeing the final terms of the contract, a Department of Justice spokesman said: "Negotiations with this preferred bidder are at an advanced stage".
Labour's Senator Alex White said the collapse of the public-private partnerships in Dublin is a symbol of the times - where the poor are the first to suffer from an economic downturn.
"It demonstrates the folly of our over-reliance, particularly in recent years, on the private sector to address pressing social problems and concerns. We have become completely obsessed with outsourcing everything to the private sector and have little or no confidence in our ability or the ability of a properly funded public sector to take the lead in issues such as this," he said.
Sinn Féin Dublin South Central TD, Aengus Ó Snódaigh said: "The effect of this is that hundreds of much-needed social housing units will not be built in the near future."
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Regeneration still a priority, says Cowen
Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said other developers may be approached to build social housing in Dublin following the collapse of the five public-private partnership (PPP) programmes yesterday.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, the Taoiseach acknowledged that the collapse of the planned projects was a setback for those communities who have been working with Dublin City Council to devise regeneration for their areas.
"There is continued commitment by the city council to prioritise the prospect of regeneration for these communities despite the fact that this setback has occurred," the Taoiseach said.
"It may involve going to other people who have indicate or expressed an interest in taking up PPP involvement at that stage to see if there is any other developer who may be available to proceed where this developer has decided not to proceed," he added.
A meeting between Dublin City Council and the Department of the Environment over the collapse of the five social housing programmes is expected to take place over the next few days.
Dublin City Council officials are expected to urge the department to provide funding for social housing programmes following the collapse of plans to build thousands of housing units when the developer withdrew from the scheme.
Citing "current economic climate and the substantial changes" in the housing sector, Dublin City Council said yesterday that plans for the €900 million regeneration of St Michael’s Estate, O’Devaney Gardens, Dominic Street, Convent Lands in Sean MacDermot Street, and Infirmary Road were "unviable".
The council confirmed that developer Bernard McNamara had pulled out of five public-private partnership (PPP) schemes, worth a total of €900 million.
In a letter to the council confirming his withdrawal from the projects, Mr McNamara attributed his decision to the "adversely changed circumstances" of the housing market, new guidelines forcing developers to build larger apartments and new energy regulations. A number of PPP schemes involving rival developers have not proceeded either, he pointed out.
In a statement, the council blamed the current economic situation and "substantial changes" in the housing market for making the projects unviable.
It says it will now explore the options available for regenerating the project areas, but admitted it will take longer than planned to provide the social and affordable housing.
Assistant Dublin city manager Ciarán McNamara said today the council had not ruled out going back to the second bidder on the project to discuss building the homes.
He said McNamara had bid for the scheme at a time when there was a "very strong, reliable and buoyant housing market” and that these conditions had changed.
"Let’s be realistic here. The main reasons for the projects not going ahead at this stage is that we don’t have a strong residential property market and when you are using this process and the market changes, well obviously from Bernard McNamara's perspective these projects became unviable. But that doesn’t stop us from going back to the market at this stage.”
Ciaran McNamara told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that the options included the PPP route or the council building the housing units itself.
“If we are going down the traditional route of building the houses ourselves, that comes from our capital allocation from Government and it would possibly take a slightly longer period of time. But our guarantee is that we’re working with the regeneration board to make this happen and to make it happen as soon as possible.”
Much of the existing run-down stock of council housing at the five locations has already been demolished and tenants are waiting to be rehoused. The demolition of a further four blocks at O'Devaney Gardens is to go ahead next month.
Ireland.com
www.buckplanning.ie
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, the Taoiseach acknowledged that the collapse of the planned projects was a setback for those communities who have been working with Dublin City Council to devise regeneration for their areas.
"There is continued commitment by the city council to prioritise the prospect of regeneration for these communities despite the fact that this setback has occurred," the Taoiseach said.
"It may involve going to other people who have indicate or expressed an interest in taking up PPP involvement at that stage to see if there is any other developer who may be available to proceed where this developer has decided not to proceed," he added.
A meeting between Dublin City Council and the Department of the Environment over the collapse of the five social housing programmes is expected to take place over the next few days.
Dublin City Council officials are expected to urge the department to provide funding for social housing programmes following the collapse of plans to build thousands of housing units when the developer withdrew from the scheme.
Citing "current economic climate and the substantial changes" in the housing sector, Dublin City Council said yesterday that plans for the €900 million regeneration of St Michael’s Estate, O’Devaney Gardens, Dominic Street, Convent Lands in Sean MacDermot Street, and Infirmary Road were "unviable".
The council confirmed that developer Bernard McNamara had pulled out of five public-private partnership (PPP) schemes, worth a total of €900 million.
In a letter to the council confirming his withdrawal from the projects, Mr McNamara attributed his decision to the "adversely changed circumstances" of the housing market, new guidelines forcing developers to build larger apartments and new energy regulations. A number of PPP schemes involving rival developers have not proceeded either, he pointed out.
In a statement, the council blamed the current economic situation and "substantial changes" in the housing market for making the projects unviable.
It says it will now explore the options available for regenerating the project areas, but admitted it will take longer than planned to provide the social and affordable housing.
Assistant Dublin city manager Ciarán McNamara said today the council had not ruled out going back to the second bidder on the project to discuss building the homes.
He said McNamara had bid for the scheme at a time when there was a "very strong, reliable and buoyant housing market” and that these conditions had changed.
"Let’s be realistic here. The main reasons for the projects not going ahead at this stage is that we don’t have a strong residential property market and when you are using this process and the market changes, well obviously from Bernard McNamara's perspective these projects became unviable. But that doesn’t stop us from going back to the market at this stage.”
Ciaran McNamara told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that the options included the PPP route or the council building the housing units itself.
“If we are going down the traditional route of building the houses ourselves, that comes from our capital allocation from Government and it would possibly take a slightly longer period of time. But our guarantee is that we’re working with the regeneration board to make this happen and to make it happen as soon as possible.”
Much of the existing run-down stock of council housing at the five locations has already been demolished and tenants are waiting to be rehoused. The demolition of a further four blocks at O'Devaney Gardens is to go ahead next month.
Ireland.com
www.buckplanning.ie
Council to seek State aid as social housing plan collapses
DUBLIN CITY Council is to ask the Government to help fund its social housing budget following the collapse of plans to build thousands of housing units in partnership with one of the State's biggest builders. PAUL CULLEN and BARRY O'HALLORAN report
Opposition parties also called on the Government to "fill the gap" after the council confirmed that developer Bernard McNamara had pulled out of five public-private partnership (PPP) schemes, worth a total of €900 million.
In a statement, the council blamed the current economic situation and "substantial changes" in the housing market for making the projects unviable.
It says it will now explore the options available for regenerating the project areas, but admitted it will take longer than planned to provide the social and affordable housing.
In a letter to the council confirming his withdrawal from the projects, Mr McNamara attributed his decision to the "adversely changed circumstances" of the housing market, new guidelines forcing developers to build larger apartments and new energy regulations. A number of PPP schemes involving rival developers have not proceeded either, he pointed out.
Mr McNamara is involved in a wide range of construction projects. Recently, he sold his stake in Superquinn and has put a number of valuable city centre properties on the market, including the Ormond Hotel in the centre of Dublin and two buildings on Grafton Street.
Recent estimates of his personal wealth say he is worth close to €230 million. Assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara said he would be asking the Department of the Environment for financial support for social housing programmes at a meeting later this week. Another funding option being explored is the sale of part of the sites owned by the council.
"While this is a setback we could do without, the council is confident we will be still able to provide high-quality social and affordable housing, possibly over a longer time span."
The largest affected project is the €265 million redevelopment of St Michael's Estate, Inchicore, which has been in planning since 2001.
The other abandoned schemes are the €180 million regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7, a €200 million project on the convent grounds on Seán MacDermott Street, the regeneration of the Dominick Street flats and a €100 million project on Infirmary Road, near the Phoenix Park.
Much of the existing run-down stock of council housing at the five locations has already been demolished and tenants are waiting to be rehoused.
The demolition of a further four blocks at O'Devaney Gardens is to go ahead next month.
The announcement was greeted with dismay by the affected communities, who have been waiting for years for regeneration schemes to begin.
"I'm so angry. We've been on this road for 10 years now, and this is the third plan that has been pulled out from under our feet," said one resident of St Michael's Estate, Caroline McNulty.
Under PPP schemes, the council gives a site to the developer in return for a specified number of social housing units. The developer then makes a profit by building private apartments on the rest of the site. However, the collapse in property prices has made such schemes much less attractive to developers.
Council officials say they will meet the regeneration boards of St Michael's, Dominick Street and O'Devaney Gardens shortly to put an alternative plan in place to deliver social housing.
Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh called on the Government to "step into the builder's shoes" to ensure the social housing units were built.
Gerry Breen, Fine Gael group leader on the council, said the department would have to put money in to redress deprivation in the areas. He accused the council of putting "all its eggs in one basket" by granting so many contracts to Mr McNamara.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Opposition parties also called on the Government to "fill the gap" after the council confirmed that developer Bernard McNamara had pulled out of five public-private partnership (PPP) schemes, worth a total of €900 million.
In a statement, the council blamed the current economic situation and "substantial changes" in the housing market for making the projects unviable.
It says it will now explore the options available for regenerating the project areas, but admitted it will take longer than planned to provide the social and affordable housing.
In a letter to the council confirming his withdrawal from the projects, Mr McNamara attributed his decision to the "adversely changed circumstances" of the housing market, new guidelines forcing developers to build larger apartments and new energy regulations. A number of PPP schemes involving rival developers have not proceeded either, he pointed out.
Mr McNamara is involved in a wide range of construction projects. Recently, he sold his stake in Superquinn and has put a number of valuable city centre properties on the market, including the Ormond Hotel in the centre of Dublin and two buildings on Grafton Street.
Recent estimates of his personal wealth say he is worth close to €230 million. Assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara said he would be asking the Department of the Environment for financial support for social housing programmes at a meeting later this week. Another funding option being explored is the sale of part of the sites owned by the council.
"While this is a setback we could do without, the council is confident we will be still able to provide high-quality social and affordable housing, possibly over a longer time span."
The largest affected project is the €265 million redevelopment of St Michael's Estate, Inchicore, which has been in planning since 2001.
The other abandoned schemes are the €180 million regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7, a €200 million project on the convent grounds on Seán MacDermott Street, the regeneration of the Dominick Street flats and a €100 million project on Infirmary Road, near the Phoenix Park.
Much of the existing run-down stock of council housing at the five locations has already been demolished and tenants are waiting to be rehoused.
The demolition of a further four blocks at O'Devaney Gardens is to go ahead next month.
The announcement was greeted with dismay by the affected communities, who have been waiting for years for regeneration schemes to begin.
"I'm so angry. We've been on this road for 10 years now, and this is the third plan that has been pulled out from under our feet," said one resident of St Michael's Estate, Caroline McNulty.
Under PPP schemes, the council gives a site to the developer in return for a specified number of social housing units. The developer then makes a profit by building private apartments on the rest of the site. However, the collapse in property prices has made such schemes much less attractive to developers.
Council officials say they will meet the regeneration boards of St Michael's, Dominick Street and O'Devaney Gardens shortly to put an alternative plan in place to deliver social housing.
Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh called on the Government to "step into the builder's shoes" to ensure the social housing units were built.
Gerry Breen, Fine Gael group leader on the council, said the department would have to put money in to redress deprivation in the areas. He accused the council of putting "all its eggs in one basket" by granting so many contracts to Mr McNamara.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Developer quits €600m social housing project
ONE of the country's largest property developers has pulled out of deals worth at least €600m to build social housing in Dublin.
Castlethorn Construction, which is owned by businessman Bernard McNamara, has decided not to go ahead with plans to build hundreds of new homes for the least well-off, citing the current economic climate and "substantial" changes in the housing market.
The Opposition lashed out at the Government for failing to support those awaiting social and affordable housing.
And the developer faces the possibility of legal action for pulling out of the deals, signed in the past two years.
Dublin City Council sources said that while the first priority was to go ahead with some projects, there would be "discussions" with the developer over a possible compensation package for withdrawing.
Housing Minister Michael Finneran last night said he was in discussions with officials "at the highest level" in Dublin City Council. He said it was a matter for the local authority.
Fine Gael housing spokesman Terence Flanagan lashed out at the collapse of the deal, branding it a "blow to the most vulnerable".
In an attack on Taoiseach Brian Cowen, he said his mismanagement of the economy would hit more people daily.
"The waiting lists for social and affordable housing in Dublin are the highest in the country and this deal collapse, due to Cowen's property crash, means that these people face an uncertain future," he said.
"We are now seeing the first large bloc of victims of the economic downturn and they are exactly the people who always suffer first in these situations.
"It is time the Government re-examines direct provision of social and affordable units to ensure the most vulnerable get a roof over their head."
Projects
The five projects affected involved construction of hundreds of social and affordable homes, with facilities, and a substantial number of private homes to be sold on the market.
Some 700 new homes were planned for the St Michael's Estate in Inchicore in a deal worth €265m. At least 220 were social and affordable.
Other projects include the redevelopment of O'Devaney Gardens off the North Circular Road with 860 homes, worth €180m, and 360 apartments on Dominic Street, worth €150m.
Another 179 units were due to be built at the Convent lands on Sean McDermott Street, of which 20pc would be social and affordable, with another 162 units on Infirmary Road, with 130 social and affordable.
The council said that the projects were "unviable" from the private partner's perspective as the deal was partly based on the sale of private units to fund the cost of the social and affordable units being provided free of cost to Dublin City Council.
"Our priority is to find a new solution that will allow us continue with the much-needed regeneration of these five areas," assistant city manager Ciaran McNamara said yesterday.
"The council is confident we will be still able to provide high quality social and affordable housing, possibly over a longer time span."
The Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) were adopted by the council as an economically efficient way of improving the public housing stock.
Dublin Central TD Cyprian Brady said: "If independent economic commentators, including the ESRI, are expecting the economy to grow within the next few years, both Dublin City Council and McNamara will be able to get a reasonable return for their investment by the time the work in completed."
Castlethorn Construction is developing 10,000 homes at Adamstown in west Dublin, but nobody was available for comment last night.
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Castlethorn Construction, which is owned by businessman Bernard McNamara, has decided not to go ahead with plans to build hundreds of new homes for the least well-off, citing the current economic climate and "substantial" changes in the housing market.
The Opposition lashed out at the Government for failing to support those awaiting social and affordable housing.
And the developer faces the possibility of legal action for pulling out of the deals, signed in the past two years.
Dublin City Council sources said that while the first priority was to go ahead with some projects, there would be "discussions" with the developer over a possible compensation package for withdrawing.
Housing Minister Michael Finneran last night said he was in discussions with officials "at the highest level" in Dublin City Council. He said it was a matter for the local authority.
Fine Gael housing spokesman Terence Flanagan lashed out at the collapse of the deal, branding it a "blow to the most vulnerable".
In an attack on Taoiseach Brian Cowen, he said his mismanagement of the economy would hit more people daily.
"The waiting lists for social and affordable housing in Dublin are the highest in the country and this deal collapse, due to Cowen's property crash, means that these people face an uncertain future," he said.
"We are now seeing the first large bloc of victims of the economic downturn and they are exactly the people who always suffer first in these situations.
"It is time the Government re-examines direct provision of social and affordable units to ensure the most vulnerable get a roof over their head."
Projects
The five projects affected involved construction of hundreds of social and affordable homes, with facilities, and a substantial number of private homes to be sold on the market.
Some 700 new homes were planned for the St Michael's Estate in Inchicore in a deal worth €265m. At least 220 were social and affordable.
Other projects include the redevelopment of O'Devaney Gardens off the North Circular Road with 860 homes, worth €180m, and 360 apartments on Dominic Street, worth €150m.
Another 179 units were due to be built at the Convent lands on Sean McDermott Street, of which 20pc would be social and affordable, with another 162 units on Infirmary Road, with 130 social and affordable.
The council said that the projects were "unviable" from the private partner's perspective as the deal was partly based on the sale of private units to fund the cost of the social and affordable units being provided free of cost to Dublin City Council.
"Our priority is to find a new solution that will allow us continue with the much-needed regeneration of these five areas," assistant city manager Ciaran McNamara said yesterday.
"The council is confident we will be still able to provide high quality social and affordable housing, possibly over a longer time span."
The Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) were adopted by the council as an economically efficient way of improving the public housing stock.
Dublin Central TD Cyprian Brady said: "If independent economic commentators, including the ESRI, are expecting the economy to grow within the next few years, both Dublin City Council and McNamara will be able to get a reasonable return for their investment by the time the work in completed."
Castlethorn Construction is developing 10,000 homes at Adamstown in west Dublin, but nobody was available for comment last night.
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 19 May 2008
Council members seek meeting over stalled housing projects
FINE GAEL and Sinn Féin members of Dublin City Council have called for an emergency meeting to discuss the apparent collapse of the council's plans to build thousands of housing units in partnership with developer Bernard McNamara, writes Paul Cullen .
Senior council officials continued to insist yesterday that they were still in discussions with Mr McNamara over the fate of six public-private partnership (PPP) projects, worth over €900 million, involving the two parties.
However, senior members of the council told The Irish Times their understanding from senior council officials was that the PPP schemes with Mr McNamara were over, and an announcement to this effect would be made shortly.
Fine Gael group leader Gerry Breen said the breakdown of the projects was a fait accompli because of changed market conditions, and now it was just a matter of timing the announcement. He has proposed an emergency council meeting on the matter and wants Minister for the Environment John Gormley to attend.
Sinn Féin group leader Christy Burke said he was devastated to learn from officials that the projects would not be going ahead. He described the news as a serious blow for thousands of Dubliners who had been living in appalling conditions for the past 10 years.
"Millions of euro have been spent on ground testing, preparatory work and demolition on these sites, and much of the original housing has been knocked. This is going to leave parts of Dublin looking like Beirut."
According to assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara, discussions were continuing with the developer and a statement would be issued on Monday. If the deals with the developer failed to materialise, the council would have to work on an alternative plan, but this would take time.
He denied the council had been foolish to rely on the private sector so heavily to renew its housing stock. He said: "Hindsight is 20/20 vision. In each case, we went through an open, transparent and competitive procurement process in which locals were involved at all stages."
A spokesman for Bernard McNamara said talks were continuing. He said there had been "recurring difficulties" in a number of the PPP processes with a lot of "chopping and changing" by the council. Some of these had been so fundamental as to require revised planning applications.
Community workers in two of the projects yesterday appealed to the developers to continue their involvement.
In a statement issued in the name of Community Technical Aid, the local regeneration workers said that in preparing themselves for redevelopment, communities were in a worse state than before. "Blocks have been knocked down, flats emptied and families moved, with the inevitable result of increased anti-social behaviour. If the redevelopment collapses now, it will be a devastating blow to our already deteriorating communities."
The largest affected project is the €265 million redevelopment of St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, which has been in planning since 2001. Seven of the 11 tower blocks have already been demolished.
The €180 million regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7, for which contracts had been signed, is also affected.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Senior council officials continued to insist yesterday that they were still in discussions with Mr McNamara over the fate of six public-private partnership (PPP) projects, worth over €900 million, involving the two parties.
However, senior members of the council told The Irish Times their understanding from senior council officials was that the PPP schemes with Mr McNamara were over, and an announcement to this effect would be made shortly.
Fine Gael group leader Gerry Breen said the breakdown of the projects was a fait accompli because of changed market conditions, and now it was just a matter of timing the announcement. He has proposed an emergency council meeting on the matter and wants Minister for the Environment John Gormley to attend.
Sinn Féin group leader Christy Burke said he was devastated to learn from officials that the projects would not be going ahead. He described the news as a serious blow for thousands of Dubliners who had been living in appalling conditions for the past 10 years.
"Millions of euro have been spent on ground testing, preparatory work and demolition on these sites, and much of the original housing has been knocked. This is going to leave parts of Dublin looking like Beirut."
According to assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara, discussions were continuing with the developer and a statement would be issued on Monday. If the deals with the developer failed to materialise, the council would have to work on an alternative plan, but this would take time.
He denied the council had been foolish to rely on the private sector so heavily to renew its housing stock. He said: "Hindsight is 20/20 vision. In each case, we went through an open, transparent and competitive procurement process in which locals were involved at all stages."
A spokesman for Bernard McNamara said talks were continuing. He said there had been "recurring difficulties" in a number of the PPP processes with a lot of "chopping and changing" by the council. Some of these had been so fundamental as to require revised planning applications.
Community workers in two of the projects yesterday appealed to the developers to continue their involvement.
In a statement issued in the name of Community Technical Aid, the local regeneration workers said that in preparing themselves for redevelopment, communities were in a worse state than before. "Blocks have been knocked down, flats emptied and families moved, with the inevitable result of increased anti-social behaviour. If the redevelopment collapses now, it will be a devastating blow to our already deteriorating communities."
The largest affected project is the €265 million redevelopment of St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, which has been in planning since 2001. Seven of the 11 tower blocks have already been demolished.
The €180 million regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7, for which contracts had been signed, is also affected.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Dublin private-public housing plans collapse
Dublin City Council confirmed today that plans to build thousands of housing units in partnership with developer Bernard McNamara, have collapsed.
The six public-private partnership (PPP) projects were worth over €900 million. The council said it was looking at new funding options following the announcement that McNamara Construction are not to proceed with the regeneration plans.
"Current economic climate and the substantial changes that have taken place in the residential housing sector recently, have rendered these projects unviable, from the private partner's perspective, as the PPP concept was partly based on the sale of private units to fund the cost of new social and affordable units being provided free to Dublin City Council," said the council in a statement.
"Dublin City Council s priority now is its tenants and the City Council will explore its options for regenerating these areas and providing the social and affordable housing for its tenants," it added.
The largest affected project is the €265 million redevelopment of St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, which has been in planning since 2001. Seven of the 11 tower blocks have already been demolished ahead of the planned project.
The €180 million regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7, for which contracts had been signed, is also affected as are similar projects on Dominic Street, ConventLands in Sean McDermott Street, and Infirmary Road, also in Inchicore.
Public Private Partnerships were adopted by Dublin City Council as a way of modernising its public housing stock. The Partnership process was based upon the council developing its land bank using the private partner's finance,arising from the sale of the remaining apartments to the general public, and their development expertise to deliver high quality, mixed-tenure, sustainable neighbourhoods.
"We will be meeting immediately with the three Regeneration Boards involved in St Michael's Estate, O'Devaney Gardens and Dominic Street to explore all options and put an alternative plan in place that will deliver the social housing we need in these areas," said Ciaran McNamara, assistant City manager, Dublin City Council.
"It is possible that the City Council could invite Tenders to develop Phase 1 of St Michael s Estate immediately, where we already have planning permission for 138 new social homes. We already plan to put a proposal to the July meeting of Dublin City Council to demolish four vacant blocks in O'Devaney Gardens and if approved, we will go to Tender to get them demolished," he added.
Mr McNamara said the remaining projects would have to be examined with a view to developing the most appropriate action.
"The regeneration of these five areas is very important to the City Council and we will be using our best endeavours to see how best it can be achieved. "While this is a setback we could do without, the City Council is confident we will be still able to provide high quality social and affordable housing, possibly over a longer time span," said Mr McNamara.
Opposition parties this afternoon described the collapse of the public-private partnerships as a blow to people living in the affected areas.
The Labour Party said that Dublin City council must ensure that a new plan is put in place so that the much-needed social housing and community facilities are still provided.
Fine Gael also called on the council to redouble its efforts to find the finance necessary to make sure that the regeneration plans get back on track.
The party's housing spokesman Terence Flanagan called on the Government to re-examine direct provision of social and affordable units to ensure that the most vulnerable in Dublin have access to proper housing.
Separately, Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh said the Government should step into the gap created by the loss of McNamara builders to ensure that the housing units were built.
"A change in Government policy is required to ban the use of Public Private Partnerships for such basic requirements as public housing projects,” said Ó Snodaigh
Ireland.com
www.buckplanning.ie
The six public-private partnership (PPP) projects were worth over €900 million. The council said it was looking at new funding options following the announcement that McNamara Construction are not to proceed with the regeneration plans.
"Current economic climate and the substantial changes that have taken place in the residential housing sector recently, have rendered these projects unviable, from the private partner's perspective, as the PPP concept was partly based on the sale of private units to fund the cost of new social and affordable units being provided free to Dublin City Council," said the council in a statement.
"Dublin City Council s priority now is its tenants and the City Council will explore its options for regenerating these areas and providing the social and affordable housing for its tenants," it added.
The largest affected project is the €265 million redevelopment of St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, which has been in planning since 2001. Seven of the 11 tower blocks have already been demolished ahead of the planned project.
The €180 million regeneration of O'Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7, for which contracts had been signed, is also affected as are similar projects on Dominic Street, ConventLands in Sean McDermott Street, and Infirmary Road, also in Inchicore.
Public Private Partnerships were adopted by Dublin City Council as a way of modernising its public housing stock. The Partnership process was based upon the council developing its land bank using the private partner's finance,arising from the sale of the remaining apartments to the general public, and their development expertise to deliver high quality, mixed-tenure, sustainable neighbourhoods.
"We will be meeting immediately with the three Regeneration Boards involved in St Michael's Estate, O'Devaney Gardens and Dominic Street to explore all options and put an alternative plan in place that will deliver the social housing we need in these areas," said Ciaran McNamara, assistant City manager, Dublin City Council.
"It is possible that the City Council could invite Tenders to develop Phase 1 of St Michael s Estate immediately, where we already have planning permission for 138 new social homes. We already plan to put a proposal to the July meeting of Dublin City Council to demolish four vacant blocks in O'Devaney Gardens and if approved, we will go to Tender to get them demolished," he added.
Mr McNamara said the remaining projects would have to be examined with a view to developing the most appropriate action.
"The regeneration of these five areas is very important to the City Council and we will be using our best endeavours to see how best it can be achieved. "While this is a setback we could do without, the City Council is confident we will be still able to provide high quality social and affordable housing, possibly over a longer time span," said Mr McNamara.
Opposition parties this afternoon described the collapse of the public-private partnerships as a blow to people living in the affected areas.
The Labour Party said that Dublin City council must ensure that a new plan is put in place so that the much-needed social housing and community facilities are still provided.
Fine Gael also called on the council to redouble its efforts to find the finance necessary to make sure that the regeneration plans get back on track.
The party's housing spokesman Terence Flanagan called on the Government to re-examine direct provision of social and affordable units to ensure that the most vulnerable in Dublin have access to proper housing.
Separately, Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh said the Government should step into the gap created by the loss of McNamara builders to ensure that the housing units were built.
"A change in Government policy is required to ban the use of Public Private Partnerships for such basic requirements as public housing projects,” said Ó Snodaigh
Ireland.com
www.buckplanning.ie
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