THERE ARE 42 concrete steps up to John Ellis's top-floor flat in Croke Villas just off the Ballybough Road in Dublin's north inner city. He climbs them several times each day with his 12-year-old grandson on his shoulder.
"It could be six times a day I carry him up and down. Going down to school in the morning and back up, and then if he wants to go down and play or if we're to go out for anything. I'm not going to leave him upstairs. All the other kids get to go out and play."
Jonathan's wheelchair sits outside at the bottom of the stairs. It has been stolen two or three times, by people from outside the flats, John says - no one who knows Jonathan would take it.
There are no lifts in the 1960s flat complex, there is no shed to store the wheelchair in. It's too heavy to bring up the stairs and even if you could get it up, there'd be nowhere in the small two-bedroom flat to put it.
Three generations of the Ellis family live in the flat. John shares a bedroom with his son Graham.
In the back bedroom John's wife Rose shares a bed with her 14-year-old grandson Darryl. Jonathan, because of his cerebral palsy, has a small bed to himself.
Downstairs in the only other room in the house, apart from a tiny kitchenette, John's daughter Samantha sleeps on the couch.
The family is one of 36 living in overcrowded conditions in Croke Villas who were to have been rehoused under a public private partnership (PPP) regeneration scheme between Dublin City Council and Bennett Developments Ltd.
Earlier this week the city council announced that the PPP could not go ahead because of the "prevailing economic climate and global credit crunch".
John had hoped his family would be in their new home this Christmas with a table for his family to have their dinner on. Now he doesn't know when, or if, they'll have a new place to live.
"I'll just wait. I don't want to be pushing all the time. If they say it will be done in 18 months that's okay, but I've heard 18 months before, and it's come and gone."
Rose, however, has run out of patience.
"I'm devastated. I'm 32 years in this kip - I don't mean to call it that, I try to do everything I can to have it nice but we're all on top of each other. I'm in cancer remission at the moment, I need my own bed, Jonathan needs ramps so he can get around. We can't stay here any longer."
Maria Burnett has chronic asthma and also lives on the top floor in a two-bedroom flat with her two daughters, one of whom is pregnant, and two grandchildren.
"I've a letter from the Mater hospital saying I should be in a house, I should be somewhere with a ground floor. I'm on a breathing machine in the flat, I'm always in and out of hospital, and when the ambulance comes they have the stairs to face."
Maria is on crutches following a fall and finds the wet stairs almost impossible to manage. She is desperate to leave the flats, but can't move away because she needs to be near her mother who is in the same complex. She had pinned all her hopes on the regeneration project.
"To be honest, it's crap living here, but I feel like I'm stuck."
In another block in the complex, across a barren playing area strewn with bits of broken glass and plastic from where a car was rammed through a gate several weeks ago, lives Tricia Skelly.
She's lived in Croke Villas for 33 years and raised her six children there. The flats were officially opened by Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of Monaco, but says Tricia, any initial cachet they might have lent to the place is long gone.
"We're seen as vermin. Even to people in the area, because we're in this complex we're nobodies. Well I'm not nobody, I'm as good as anyone else and like anyone else, I want the best for my children.
"They're entitled to a good environment, a good education and somewhere to live that's as good as anywhere else. I just want a house, I think I deserve a house."
The council has not yet said whether it will now redevelop the complex using its own resources, following the failure of the PPP. It is due to update the residents on its plans next week.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label public private partnership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public private partnership. Show all posts
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Croke Villas public-private partnership scheme fails
ANOTHER DUBLIN City Council public-private partnership (PPP) which was to provide the regeneration of an inner city social housing complex has collapsed.
Croke Villas, a 1960s block of 79 flats off the Ballybough Road in the north inner city, was to have been redeveloped as a complex of retail, private apartments and 36 social housing units under a PPP between Bennett Developments Ltd and the council.
The termination of the project follows the collapse this year of five PPP social housing regeneration schemes between the council and developer Bernard McNamara. The changes in the housing market meant it was no longer viable for Mr McNamara to provide social houses in exchange for land to build private housing.
In a statement last night, the council said it had been unable to conclude negotiations with Bennett Developments, who were the preferred bidder for Croke Villas, because of the "prevailing economic climate and global credit crunch".
The flats had been earmarked for redevelopment by the council for almost 10 years, but progress towards the PPP scheme began two years ago. Half of the block has been detenanted over the past 18 months in preparation for demolition but, as with O'Devaney Gardens (the Dublin 7 complex that was to have been developed by Mr McNamara), delays in the project meant the empty flats became a magnet for anti-social behaviour.
Paula Mitchell, who has lived in Croke Villas for 15 years and is a member of the regeneration group, said more than 150 men women and children now faced an uncertain future.
"People thought they'd be eating their Christmas dinner at a kitchen table instead of eating off their laps."
Families with four or five children were living in tiny one-bedroom flats. "There's one woman who is the carer for her 12-year-old grandson who's in a wheelchair. Every day, she has to leave the wheelchair in a stairwell and carry him up several flights of stairs."
The regeneration group realised in recent months there was a problem with the PPP because of the delays, Ms Mitchell said, but has only now been told the PPP has been terminated.
"The council has told us that they will go to plan B, but we never heard of a plan B and they haven't told us what that is yet."
A council taskforce established after the collapse of the NcNamara PPPs at O'Devaney Gardens, St Michael's Estate, Dominick Street, Sean McDermott Street and Infirmary Road recommended this month that the council build three of these projects out of its own resources.
Managing director of Bennett Developments Eugene Moore said he was disappointed negotiations had not concluded, but there remained a possibility they could resume. "This project may well be resurrected in the not-too-distant future," he said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Croke Villas, a 1960s block of 79 flats off the Ballybough Road in the north inner city, was to have been redeveloped as a complex of retail, private apartments and 36 social housing units under a PPP between Bennett Developments Ltd and the council.
The termination of the project follows the collapse this year of five PPP social housing regeneration schemes between the council and developer Bernard McNamara. The changes in the housing market meant it was no longer viable for Mr McNamara to provide social houses in exchange for land to build private housing.
In a statement last night, the council said it had been unable to conclude negotiations with Bennett Developments, who were the preferred bidder for Croke Villas, because of the "prevailing economic climate and global credit crunch".
The flats had been earmarked for redevelopment by the council for almost 10 years, but progress towards the PPP scheme began two years ago. Half of the block has been detenanted over the past 18 months in preparation for demolition but, as with O'Devaney Gardens (the Dublin 7 complex that was to have been developed by Mr McNamara), delays in the project meant the empty flats became a magnet for anti-social behaviour.
Paula Mitchell, who has lived in Croke Villas for 15 years and is a member of the regeneration group, said more than 150 men women and children now faced an uncertain future.
"People thought they'd be eating their Christmas dinner at a kitchen table instead of eating off their laps."
Families with four or five children were living in tiny one-bedroom flats. "There's one woman who is the carer for her 12-year-old grandson who's in a wheelchair. Every day, she has to leave the wheelchair in a stairwell and carry him up several flights of stairs."
The regeneration group realised in recent months there was a problem with the PPP because of the delays, Ms Mitchell said, but has only now been told the PPP has been terminated.
"The council has told us that they will go to plan B, but we never heard of a plan B and they haven't told us what that is yet."
A council taskforce established after the collapse of the NcNamara PPPs at O'Devaney Gardens, St Michael's Estate, Dominick Street, Sean McDermott Street and Infirmary Road recommended this month that the council build three of these projects out of its own resources.
Managing director of Bennett Developments Eugene Moore said he was disappointed negotiations had not concluded, but there remained a possibility they could resume. "This project may well be resurrected in the not-too-distant future," he said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
€95 million to regenerate three major inner city flat complexes
DUBLIN CITY Council is to spend €95 million to regenerate three major inner city flat complexes which were to have been rebuilt by developer Bernard McNamara under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.
City councillors were last night told the PPP process was "no longer viable" for the regeneration of the dilapidated social housing complexes because of the economic downturn and the council would have to use its own resources to house the residents.
The council has already lost €5 million following the collapse earlier this year of the agreement with Mr McNamara to build developments of social affordable and private housing on five council owned sites.
The five developments were at Dominick Street and Seán McDermott Street in the north inner city, O'Devaney Gardens, and Infirmary Road near the Phoenix Park and St Michael's Estate in the south inner city.
The council will now press ahead with building social and affordable units at three of the sites: St Michael's Estate at a cost of €36 million, O'Devaney Gardens at €32 million and Dominick Street at €27 million.
The smaller plots of land at Infirmary Road and Seán McDermott Street are not existing social housing complexes with residents needing re-housing and their development will be considered at a later date, assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara said.
The council is to spend €8.5 million next year to start the regeneration of the three estates. Work will begin on 137 social and affordable houses for St Michael's Estate, where planning permission has already been obtained, in 2010.
The council will then design 80 social apartments for Dominick Street and an initial 70 social and affordable homes for O'Devaney Gardens, where a total of 200 homes will eventually be built. It will then apply to An Bord Pleanála for permission for both developments. However, building work will not begin until 2011.
The new plans have emerged from a special housing taskforce established following the collapse of the agreement with Mr McNamara.
The council had in recent months been in negotiation with Boston firm Corcoran Jennison, the bidder that originally lost out to Mr McNamara.
However, Ciarán McNamara said last night legal advice was that Corcoran Jennison's plans could not proceed under the original procurement process for the PPPs. Re-housing the existing residents was a matter of urgency, but he said private investment, for both commercial uses and private housing would be part of each site at a later date.
"While Dublin City Council continues to be open to considering other alternative solutions to deliver the regeneration of all three projects, we are not willing to wait around. Our tenants are our priority and we have to begin to address their needs," he said.
Dublin soccer club, St Patrick's Athletic, is also understood to be interested in becoming involved in developing St Michael's Estate. Mr McNamara said the club would have to approach the council with a proposal which would be put before city councillors if they were interested in the development.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Eibhlin Byrne said the new proposals were an important step forward.
Sinn Féin councillor Christy Burke said the council had worked "pretty fast" to come up with a new plan. "I hope these proposals can inject some hope into these three areas," he said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
City councillors were last night told the PPP process was "no longer viable" for the regeneration of the dilapidated social housing complexes because of the economic downturn and the council would have to use its own resources to house the residents.
The council has already lost €5 million following the collapse earlier this year of the agreement with Mr McNamara to build developments of social affordable and private housing on five council owned sites.
The five developments were at Dominick Street and Seán McDermott Street in the north inner city, O'Devaney Gardens, and Infirmary Road near the Phoenix Park and St Michael's Estate in the south inner city.
The council will now press ahead with building social and affordable units at three of the sites: St Michael's Estate at a cost of €36 million, O'Devaney Gardens at €32 million and Dominick Street at €27 million.
The smaller plots of land at Infirmary Road and Seán McDermott Street are not existing social housing complexes with residents needing re-housing and their development will be considered at a later date, assistant city manager Ciarán McNamara said.
The council is to spend €8.5 million next year to start the regeneration of the three estates. Work will begin on 137 social and affordable houses for St Michael's Estate, where planning permission has already been obtained, in 2010.
The council will then design 80 social apartments for Dominick Street and an initial 70 social and affordable homes for O'Devaney Gardens, where a total of 200 homes will eventually be built. It will then apply to An Bord Pleanála for permission for both developments. However, building work will not begin until 2011.
The new plans have emerged from a special housing taskforce established following the collapse of the agreement with Mr McNamara.
The council had in recent months been in negotiation with Boston firm Corcoran Jennison, the bidder that originally lost out to Mr McNamara.
However, Ciarán McNamara said last night legal advice was that Corcoran Jennison's plans could not proceed under the original procurement process for the PPPs. Re-housing the existing residents was a matter of urgency, but he said private investment, for both commercial uses and private housing would be part of each site at a later date.
"While Dublin City Council continues to be open to considering other alternative solutions to deliver the regeneration of all three projects, we are not willing to wait around. Our tenants are our priority and we have to begin to address their needs," he said.
Dublin soccer club, St Patrick's Athletic, is also understood to be interested in becoming involved in developing St Michael's Estate. Mr McNamara said the club would have to approach the council with a proposal which would be put before city councillors if they were interested in the development.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Eibhlin Byrne said the new proposals were an important step forward.
Sinn Féin councillor Christy Burke said the council had worked "pretty fast" to come up with a new plan. "I hope these proposals can inject some hope into these three areas," he said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Thornton Hall may be delayed over €80m
The development of the super-prison at Thornton Hall will be delayed by at least 18 months if the developers continue to insist they cannot proceed without another €80 million from government.
The Léargas consortium of developers has told the state it will have to contribute an extra €80 million to the north Dublin project, which is being built as a public private partnership (PPP), if it is to go ahead. This would bring the cost of building the prison to €480 million.
The consortium, which includes Bernard McNamara, Barclays Private Equity and GSL, the international prison operator, was selected as the preferred bidder nearly a year ago after submitting an original budget of €400m.
It is in negotiations with the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) over details of the prison's construction but has now insisted it needs another €80 million to go ahead.
It has blamed the credit crisis on the rising cost, saying banks that were willing to fund the development are no longer willing to extend credit. However, prison service sources say there is "no more money available".
The consortium is insisting that, to stay within the original €400 million budget, plans for the prison would have to be radically scaled back.
If negotiations break down, the prison service will have to re-tender for a firm to design, build, finance and maintain the new jail. This would delay the project by 18 months. Thornton Hall was scheduled to open before the end of 2010.
Formal contracts between the government and Léargas have yet to be signed but negotiations are at an advanced stage. Under the provisional deal, Léargas will design, finance and build the prison and then receive fixed payments from the state over 25 years.
In June, the Dáil passed a bill to allow for the building of a new prison at Thornton Hall to replace Mountjoy jail.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
The Léargas consortium of developers has told the state it will have to contribute an extra €80 million to the north Dublin project, which is being built as a public private partnership (PPP), if it is to go ahead. This would bring the cost of building the prison to €480 million.
The consortium, which includes Bernard McNamara, Barclays Private Equity and GSL, the international prison operator, was selected as the preferred bidder nearly a year ago after submitting an original budget of €400m.
It is in negotiations with the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) over details of the prison's construction but has now insisted it needs another €80 million to go ahead.
It has blamed the credit crisis on the rising cost, saying banks that were willing to fund the development are no longer willing to extend credit. However, prison service sources say there is "no more money available".
The consortium is insisting that, to stay within the original €400 million budget, plans for the prison would have to be radically scaled back.
If negotiations break down, the prison service will have to re-tender for a firm to design, build, finance and maintain the new jail. This would delay the project by 18 months. Thornton Hall was scheduled to open before the end of 2010.
Formal contracts between the government and Léargas have yet to be signed but negotiations are at an advanced stage. Under the provisional deal, Léargas will design, finance and build the prison and then receive fixed payments from the state over 25 years.
In June, the Dáil passed a bill to allow for the building of a new prison at Thornton Hall to replace Mountjoy jail.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
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
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Boston social housing scheme shows the way
An Irish-American firm, which developed a template for exemplary social housing, is pressing hard to get into the frame as Dublin City Council prepares to redevelop some problem estates, writes Frank McDonald.
COLUMBIA POINT used to be one of the worst slums in North America. Despite its beautiful location on Boston Harbour, not far from the Kennedy Library, it was wracked by every imaginable social problem, mostly drug-related. It was a ghetto, physically isolated from the city, a place nobody wanted to go.
Mostly boarded up when developers Corcoran Mullins Jennison (CMJ) arrived on the scene in 1987, it became the first federal housing project in the United States to be converted to mixed-income housing.
And with the end-result winning several awards, it has served as an exemplary model for similar schemes elsewhere.
Anyone coming back after 20 years would barely recognise it. The name was changed to Harbor Point, to extirpate old associations, and the entire estate redeveloped to provide 1,283 attractive apartments and townhouses - supported by a range of social facilities, including shops, playgrounds and places for sitting out.
Low-income households benefiting from rent allowances account for just over 31 per cent of the overall mix, but there's no distinction between them and tenants paying the full market rent of $1,700 to $1,800 a month (€1,197 to €1,268); everyone lives together, instead of being socially segregated in different blocks.
What is also unusual about Harbor Point is that it's owned and managed by the same company that developed it - co-founded, incidentally, by Irish-American entrepreneur Joe Corcoran, whose parents hailed from Co Roscommon; he made a fortune from property investments and still runs the company at the age of 72.
Corcoran Jennison pitched for the PPP contracts from Dublin City Council to redevelop Dominick Street, O'Devaney Gardens and St Michael's Estate - losing out to Bernard McNamara. But now, with McNamara out of the picture, the Boston-based firm is pressing hard to get back into the frame by highlighting its track record.
Its focus is on developing and managing sustainable communities that work well for residents and for the company, as long-term landlord.
"Rents go up 3 per cent a year, so the property is worth much more now than 20 years ago," says Miles Byrne, who managed Harbor Point for eight years and knows its people well.
"We're incentivised to ensure it never goes bad. Under the Irish model, the developer is incentivised to make it look good on day one, when it's all up for sale.
Nobody asks how the area is going to be managed in the years ahead, what's the life expectancy of the lifts, roofs, etc, and how much it's going to cost to maintain."
The centrepiece of Harbor Point is a wide tree-lined boulevard, flanked by apartment blocks up to seven storeys high.
A small shopping arcade occupies the ground floor of one of these blocks, while the others are fronted by attractive shrubs and bedding plants. There is no evidence of vandalism or graffiti anywhere.
Colourful balloons decorate the entrance to the estate's leasing office, where prospective tenants are interviewed for the 2 per cent of units vacant at any given time.
"We have control over who goes in here," says Miles Byrne. "It's not like an apartment complex in Dublin, where there would be a whole lot of individual landlords."
One-bedroom apartments have floor areas of 56sq m (600sq ft), with good-sized rooms and even walk-in closets.
And because every block has a sprinkler system, apartments have a more open aspect, with no enclosed hallways.
The central heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is run on gas-fired boilers.
The rules are quite straightforward: tenants must pay the rent on time, not bother the neighbours, take care of their own apartments and disclose who's living with them.
"We need to get to know people, find out who they are and learn their names," says Byrne. "Because guys can't be dangerous if they're not anonymous."
Thirty-six nationalities are represented at Harbor Point, and around half of the residents are black.
There's a crèche, a youth centre with an outreach programme, a full-service health centre to cater for 500 kids under the age of 18 as well as two outdoor swimming pools, one for lounging around and the other for lapping.
Harbor Point also has a newly refurbished fitness centre with cardio and weight machines and a large function room upstairs with a fully-equipped kitchen that can be used for anything from teenage discos to residents' group meetings and other community events. The focus is on engaging people - and keeping them occupied.
"When you go into dysfunctional communities and provide a support structure based on exacting standards, things go right," Byrne says.
"Forty-six households need psychiatric medicines so family members can lead productive lives, and we see them regularly.
Any physical damage is fixed right away; not to do so is to create a cancer."
I was invited to attend one of the meetings at which any problems at Harbor Point are discussed openly by a committee that includes the chairman of the residents' council, the heads of maintenance and security, one of the social workers in the area and a representative of the developers - on this occasion, Miles Byrne himself.
It was a remarkable exchange of views. Clearly, everyone present was on first-name terms with all of the problem tenants - whether they were people who wouldn't be getting their doors and windows painted until they cleaned up their flats, or a 19-year-old male who had molested a seven-year-old boy in the computer room.
"There are good people in every community, so whenever we have a conflict we always find some way to turn things around," Byrne says.
"It's all about getting residents' trust first - the rest is design, construction and maintenance. We've never had to go to arbitration.
"We defer to the residents' council because they live here."
Fingal county manager David O'Connor was so impressed with Harbor Point when he visited Boston earlier this year that an 11-strong group of councillors and officials went back there last week to have a second look, on an information tour organised by Patricia Crisp, Corcoran Jennison's Dublin-based European director, who also organised this reporter's visit.
But Dublin City Council's housing department has so far declined an invitation to go see the place - most probably because Harbor Point implicitly challenges the traditional way of providing social and affordable housing, as well as the rigid segregation imposed by its officials in the redevelopment of "sink" estates.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
COLUMBIA POINT used to be one of the worst slums in North America. Despite its beautiful location on Boston Harbour, not far from the Kennedy Library, it was wracked by every imaginable social problem, mostly drug-related. It was a ghetto, physically isolated from the city, a place nobody wanted to go.
Mostly boarded up when developers Corcoran Mullins Jennison (CMJ) arrived on the scene in 1987, it became the first federal housing project in the United States to be converted to mixed-income housing.
And with the end-result winning several awards, it has served as an exemplary model for similar schemes elsewhere.
Anyone coming back after 20 years would barely recognise it. The name was changed to Harbor Point, to extirpate old associations, and the entire estate redeveloped to provide 1,283 attractive apartments and townhouses - supported by a range of social facilities, including shops, playgrounds and places for sitting out.
Low-income households benefiting from rent allowances account for just over 31 per cent of the overall mix, but there's no distinction between them and tenants paying the full market rent of $1,700 to $1,800 a month (€1,197 to €1,268); everyone lives together, instead of being socially segregated in different blocks.
What is also unusual about Harbor Point is that it's owned and managed by the same company that developed it - co-founded, incidentally, by Irish-American entrepreneur Joe Corcoran, whose parents hailed from Co Roscommon; he made a fortune from property investments and still runs the company at the age of 72.
Corcoran Jennison pitched for the PPP contracts from Dublin City Council to redevelop Dominick Street, O'Devaney Gardens and St Michael's Estate - losing out to Bernard McNamara. But now, with McNamara out of the picture, the Boston-based firm is pressing hard to get back into the frame by highlighting its track record.
Its focus is on developing and managing sustainable communities that work well for residents and for the company, as long-term landlord.
"Rents go up 3 per cent a year, so the property is worth much more now than 20 years ago," says Miles Byrne, who managed Harbor Point for eight years and knows its people well.
"We're incentivised to ensure it never goes bad. Under the Irish model, the developer is incentivised to make it look good on day one, when it's all up for sale.
Nobody asks how the area is going to be managed in the years ahead, what's the life expectancy of the lifts, roofs, etc, and how much it's going to cost to maintain."
The centrepiece of Harbor Point is a wide tree-lined boulevard, flanked by apartment blocks up to seven storeys high.
A small shopping arcade occupies the ground floor of one of these blocks, while the others are fronted by attractive shrubs and bedding plants. There is no evidence of vandalism or graffiti anywhere.
Colourful balloons decorate the entrance to the estate's leasing office, where prospective tenants are interviewed for the 2 per cent of units vacant at any given time.
"We have control over who goes in here," says Miles Byrne. "It's not like an apartment complex in Dublin, where there would be a whole lot of individual landlords."
One-bedroom apartments have floor areas of 56sq m (600sq ft), with good-sized rooms and even walk-in closets.
And because every block has a sprinkler system, apartments have a more open aspect, with no enclosed hallways.
The central heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is run on gas-fired boilers.
The rules are quite straightforward: tenants must pay the rent on time, not bother the neighbours, take care of their own apartments and disclose who's living with them.
"We need to get to know people, find out who they are and learn their names," says Byrne. "Because guys can't be dangerous if they're not anonymous."
Thirty-six nationalities are represented at Harbor Point, and around half of the residents are black.
There's a crèche, a youth centre with an outreach programme, a full-service health centre to cater for 500 kids under the age of 18 as well as two outdoor swimming pools, one for lounging around and the other for lapping.
Harbor Point also has a newly refurbished fitness centre with cardio and weight machines and a large function room upstairs with a fully-equipped kitchen that can be used for anything from teenage discos to residents' group meetings and other community events. The focus is on engaging people - and keeping them occupied.
"When you go into dysfunctional communities and provide a support structure based on exacting standards, things go right," Byrne says.
"Forty-six households need psychiatric medicines so family members can lead productive lives, and we see them regularly.
Any physical damage is fixed right away; not to do so is to create a cancer."
I was invited to attend one of the meetings at which any problems at Harbor Point are discussed openly by a committee that includes the chairman of the residents' council, the heads of maintenance and security, one of the social workers in the area and a representative of the developers - on this occasion, Miles Byrne himself.
It was a remarkable exchange of views. Clearly, everyone present was on first-name terms with all of the problem tenants - whether they were people who wouldn't be getting their doors and windows painted until they cleaned up their flats, or a 19-year-old male who had molested a seven-year-old boy in the computer room.
"There are good people in every community, so whenever we have a conflict we always find some way to turn things around," Byrne says.
"It's all about getting residents' trust first - the rest is design, construction and maintenance. We've never had to go to arbitration.
"We defer to the residents' council because they live here."
Fingal county manager David O'Connor was so impressed with Harbor Point when he visited Boston earlier this year that an 11-strong group of councillors and officials went back there last week to have a second look, on an information tour organised by Patricia Crisp, Corcoran Jennison's Dublin-based European director, who also organised this reporter's visit.
But Dublin City Council's housing department has so far declined an invitation to go see the place - most probably because Harbor Point implicitly challenges the traditional way of providing social and affordable housing, as well as the rigid segregation imposed by its officials in the redevelopment of "sink" estates.
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
Friday, 5 September 2008
Developer to pay €1.5m and pull out of social housing
PROPERTY DEVELOPER Bernard McNamara is to pay Dublin City Council €1.5 million as part of a deal that will see him pull out of all five social housing regeneration projects in the inner city.
Mr McNamara had been due to build social, affordable and private housing schemes in five of the most deprived areas of the city under a public-private partnership scheme with the council.
However, his arrangement with the council broke down earlier this year after it emerged that he could not get planning permission for the number of units he wanted, following a change in regulations on apartment size.
Last July the council formally terminated its contracts in relation to two projects - the redevelopment of St Michael's estate in Inchicore and Dominick Street in the north inner city.
Agreement was reached that Mr McNamara would go ahead with a third project, the "convent lands" development on Seán McDermott Street in the city centre.
The council entered into mediation with him on the final two projects at Infirmary Road and O'Devaney Gardens, both in Dublin 7, but warned the developer that it would initiate High Court proceedings against him if mediation was not successful.
The council yesterday issued a statement saying that following mediation, its relationship with Mr McNamara was now at an end.
Not only was he to pull out of the O'Devaney Gardens and Infirmary Road schemes, but he would also no longer be going ahead with the convent lands development.
Under the mediation agreement, Mr McNamara will hand over all drawings and plans for the developments, will relinquish any claims to the land, and will pay the council €1.5 million in compensation. It is understood that the council has in return agreed not to take legal action against him.
The council said it was examining the options for the future of all five sites. The council's statement came just days after the council said it was to immediately demolish the derelict blocks of flats in O'Devaney Gardens, which were the scene of violent incidents during the summer.
The empty flats had been due for demolition more than eight months ago, but the work was delayed because of the problems with Mr McNamara.
Labour councillor Emer Costello said the local communities must be reassured the regeneration projects would go ahead.
"The whole area is in despair, this situation has been eating and rotting away at the community. The Government needs to come up with funding to kick-start the building of social housing in these areas now," she added.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Mr McNamara had been due to build social, affordable and private housing schemes in five of the most deprived areas of the city under a public-private partnership scheme with the council.
However, his arrangement with the council broke down earlier this year after it emerged that he could not get planning permission for the number of units he wanted, following a change in regulations on apartment size.
Last July the council formally terminated its contracts in relation to two projects - the redevelopment of St Michael's estate in Inchicore and Dominick Street in the north inner city.
Agreement was reached that Mr McNamara would go ahead with a third project, the "convent lands" development on Seán McDermott Street in the city centre.
The council entered into mediation with him on the final two projects at Infirmary Road and O'Devaney Gardens, both in Dublin 7, but warned the developer that it would initiate High Court proceedings against him if mediation was not successful.
The council yesterday issued a statement saying that following mediation, its relationship with Mr McNamara was now at an end.
Not only was he to pull out of the O'Devaney Gardens and Infirmary Road schemes, but he would also no longer be going ahead with the convent lands development.
Under the mediation agreement, Mr McNamara will hand over all drawings and plans for the developments, will relinquish any claims to the land, and will pay the council €1.5 million in compensation. It is understood that the council has in return agreed not to take legal action against him.
The council said it was examining the options for the future of all five sites. The council's statement came just days after the council said it was to immediately demolish the derelict blocks of flats in O'Devaney Gardens, which were the scene of violent incidents during the summer.
The empty flats had been due for demolition more than eight months ago, but the work was delayed because of the problems with Mr McNamara.
Labour councillor Emer Costello said the local communities must be reassured the regeneration projects would go ahead.
"The whole area is in despair, this situation has been eating and rotting away at the community. The Government needs to come up with funding to kick-start the building of social housing in these areas now," she added.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Developer 'won't stand in way' of regeneration projects
DEVELOPER Bernard McNamara has told Dublin City Council he has no objection if the authority uses a different building company to complete two stalled social housing schemes.
On Friday, Mr McNamara wrote to the council in relation to proposed regeneration projects at St Michael's Estate, Inchicore, Dublin 8, and Dominick Street, confirming he would not stand in the way if the council went ahead with the next bidder from the original tendering process.
Last month, it emerged that five public private partnership (PPP) deals between Mr McNamara's company, Bernard McNamara and Co, and the council had fallen through because of a row over apartment size and new regulations.
The projects at St Michael's Estate and O'Devaney Gardens (both are joint ventures with Castlethorn Construction), Infirmary Road, Dominick Street and Sean McDermott Street, would see 1,800 new homes built worth €900m.
Assistant city manager Ciaran McNamara wrote to the developer, asking him to withdraw from the projects so that it could approach the PPP under-bidder with a view to striking a deal.
In his reply, Mr McNamara said the city council was free to approach the under-bidder.
Meanwhile, it emerged from Mr McNamara's correspondence with the council that in the case of St Michael's Estate, there were high levels of contamination by naturally occurring selenium in the soil throughout the site -- a complication expected to add significantly to construction costs. The dispute between Mr McNamara and the council arose after new building regulations, which came into force in December 2007, meant apartments had to be bigger.
Dublin City Council estimated the extra financial burden at between €2,500 to €3,000 per unit, but Mr McNamara's estimate was closer to €10,000.
He complained that the new regulations to increase apartment size and impose new energy regulations were brought in after he won the tenders, and meant it was no longer financially viable.
The future for over 250 families who are waiting on a home hangs in the balance until the council finds a solution.
The underbidder in the tendering process is understood to be a joint bid by Corcoran Jennison and Pierce Construction.
Anne-Marie Walsh
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
On Friday, Mr McNamara wrote to the council in relation to proposed regeneration projects at St Michael's Estate, Inchicore, Dublin 8, and Dominick Street, confirming he would not stand in the way if the council went ahead with the next bidder from the original tendering process.
Last month, it emerged that five public private partnership (PPP) deals between Mr McNamara's company, Bernard McNamara and Co, and the council had fallen through because of a row over apartment size and new regulations.
The projects at St Michael's Estate and O'Devaney Gardens (both are joint ventures with Castlethorn Construction), Infirmary Road, Dominick Street and Sean McDermott Street, would see 1,800 new homes built worth €900m.
Assistant city manager Ciaran McNamara wrote to the developer, asking him to withdraw from the projects so that it could approach the PPP under-bidder with a view to striking a deal.
In his reply, Mr McNamara said the city council was free to approach the under-bidder.
Meanwhile, it emerged from Mr McNamara's correspondence with the council that in the case of St Michael's Estate, there were high levels of contamination by naturally occurring selenium in the soil throughout the site -- a complication expected to add significantly to construction costs. The dispute between Mr McNamara and the council arose after new building regulations, which came into force in December 2007, meant apartments had to be bigger.
Dublin City Council estimated the extra financial burden at between €2,500 to €3,000 per unit, but Mr McNamara's estimate was closer to €10,000.
He complained that the new regulations to increase apartment size and impose new energy regulations were brought in after he won the tenders, and meant it was no longer financially viable.
The future for over 250 families who are waiting on a home hangs in the balance until the council finds a solution.
The underbidder in the tendering process is understood to be a joint bid by Corcoran Jennison and Pierce Construction.
Anne-Marie Walsh
Irish Independent
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
Council to discuss housing schemes with builders
DUBLIN CITY Council is meeting with building companies bidding for public-private housing schemes after the future of five such projects was thrown into doubt this week.
On Monday, the council announced that builders Michael McNamara and Company and Castlethorn would not be going ahead with five proposed schemes as changes in the housing market had made them "unviable".
However, McNamara subsequently told The Irish Times it had not pulled out of the projects. Instead it said it wrote to the council pointing out that changes to building regulations and apartment size requirements threatened the schemes' viability.
Yesterday, the council said it was meeting with all other public-private scheme bidders and has "begun the process of undertaking a risk assessment on each project". The council plans to report to next Monday night's meeting on the talks. There are four such schemes, involving 3,000 homes, currently in various stages of the bidding and planning processes.
The council has received a planning permission application in relation to one, involving 715 houses in Coolock.
Construction firm Rohcon bid for this. A company called ADN Developments submitted the planning application in December, and the council has since told it to provide more information.
It was not possible to establish yesterday whether permission has been sought for another project involving 800 units in Park West and bid for by building companies Durkan and Bennett. A further 1,000 homes are proposed for St Teresa's Gardens and Charlemont Street.
Under the public-private system, building companies bid to provide the council with social and affordable housing, and pay for this by taking a share of the units themselves and selling them on the open market.
However, building industry sources say the new regulations have increased costs and risks while cutting the number of homes that can be built.
They point out that the new rules have come into force since bidding opened for Dublin City's various public-private schemes.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
On Monday, the council announced that builders Michael McNamara and Company and Castlethorn would not be going ahead with five proposed schemes as changes in the housing market had made them "unviable".
However, McNamara subsequently told The Irish Times it had not pulled out of the projects. Instead it said it wrote to the council pointing out that changes to building regulations and apartment size requirements threatened the schemes' viability.
Yesterday, the council said it was meeting with all other public-private scheme bidders and has "begun the process of undertaking a risk assessment on each project". The council plans to report to next Monday night's meeting on the talks. There are four such schemes, involving 3,000 homes, currently in various stages of the bidding and planning processes.
The council has received a planning permission application in relation to one, involving 715 houses in Coolock.
Construction firm Rohcon bid for this. A company called ADN Developments submitted the planning application in December, and the council has since told it to provide more information.
It was not possible to establish yesterday whether permission has been sought for another project involving 800 units in Park West and bid for by building companies Durkan and Bennett. A further 1,000 homes are proposed for St Teresa's Gardens and Charlemont Street.
Under the public-private system, building companies bid to provide the council with social and affordable housing, and pay for this by taking a share of the units themselves and selling them on the open market.
However, building industry sources say the new regulations have increased costs and risks while cutting the number of homes that can be built.
They point out that the new rules have come into force since bidding opened for Dublin City's various public-private schemes.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Council to discuss housing schemes with builders
DUBLIN CITY Council is meeting with building companies bidding for public-private housing schemes after the future of five such projects was thrown into doubt this week.
On Monday, the council announced that builders Michael McNamara and Company and Castlethorn would not be going ahead with five proposed schemes as changes in the housing market had made them "unviable".
However, McNamara subsequently told The Irish Times it had not pulled out of the projects. Instead it said it wrote to the council pointing out that changes to building regulations and apartment size requirements threatened the schemes' viability.
Yesterday, the council said it was meeting with all other public-private scheme bidders and has "begun the process of undertaking a risk assessment on each project". The council plans to report to next Monday night's meeting on the talks. There are four such schemes, involving 3,000 homes, currently in various stages of the bidding and planning processes.
The council has received a planning permission application in relation to one, involving 715 houses in Coolock.
Construction firm Rohcon bid for this. A company called ADN Developments submitted the planning application in December, and the council has since told it to provide more information.
It was not possible to establish yesterday whether permission has been sought for another project involving 800 units in Park West and bid for by building companies Durkan and Bennett. A further 1,000 homes are proposed for St Teresa's Gardens and Charlemont Street.
Under the public-private system, building companies bid to provide the council with social and affordable housing, and pay for this by taking a share of the units themselves and selling them on the open market.
However, building industry sources say the new regulations have increased costs and risks while cutting the number of homes that can be built.
They point out that the new rules have come into force since bidding opened for Dublin City's various public-private schemes.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
On Monday, the council announced that builders Michael McNamara and Company and Castlethorn would not be going ahead with five proposed schemes as changes in the housing market had made them "unviable".
However, McNamara subsequently told The Irish Times it had not pulled out of the projects. Instead it said it wrote to the council pointing out that changes to building regulations and apartment size requirements threatened the schemes' viability.
Yesterday, the council said it was meeting with all other public-private scheme bidders and has "begun the process of undertaking a risk assessment on each project". The council plans to report to next Monday night's meeting on the talks. There are four such schemes, involving 3,000 homes, currently in various stages of the bidding and planning processes.
The council has received a planning permission application in relation to one, involving 715 houses in Coolock.
Construction firm Rohcon bid for this. A company called ADN Developments submitted the planning application in December, and the council has since told it to provide more information.
It was not possible to establish yesterday whether permission has been sought for another project involving 800 units in Park West and bid for by building companies Durkan and Bennett. A further 1,000 homes are proposed for St Teresa's Gardens and Charlemont Street.
Under the public-private system, building companies bid to provide the council with social and affordable housing, and pay for this by taking a share of the units themselves and selling them on the open market.
However, building industry sources say the new regulations have increased costs and risks while cutting the number of homes that can be built.
They point out that the new rules have come into force since bidding opened for Dublin City's various public-private schemes.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Deal collapse shows faults of PPPs
The collapse of the public private partnership (PPP) between Dublin City Council and developer Bernard McNamara has set alarm bells ringing throughout government departments and local authorities which have significant projects being undertaken by similar partnerships.
The scheme would have built hundreds of units of social and affordable housing in some of the poorest areas of inner-city Dublin. Some flagship projects will now be the subject of close examination in the coming weeks. For a government which has staked its political reputation - and built an electoral strategy - on massive infrastructural investment, it’s a worrying development.
Dublin City Council is understood to be urgently reviewing other PPP projects, and has been in contact with several other developer-consortiums. Some are believed to have responded positively at this stage, but not all.
The council will also examine the possibility of legal action against McNamara. A counter-suit by the builder is also possible.
It’s also a sign that PPPs are not the catch-all solution that many once thought. It’s clear they work very well in some cases in some markets - but not in all cases in all markets.
PPPs are a relatively recent addition to the tools available to government, though the administration of Bertie Ahern enthusiastically adopted them as its public-building programme gathered pace in its second term. There were, according to the Department of Finance, relatively few such projects prior to 2003. Since then, there has been an explosion in their use by government.
The department lists more than 80 projects in its latest PPP update, but many of these include multiple construction projects - one, under the auspices of the Department of Education, includes six new schools.
The rest of the projects vary from roads projects, other educational building works, the National Conference Centre, Concert Hall and new National Theatre, government offices for decentralised departments, the planned Metro, a new Luas line, new prisons, a mass of local authority housing, sewage and drainage schemes and the proposed incinerator for Poolbeg in Dublin.
However, while it may seem that every government building project is now being handed over to the private sector, this isn’t the case.
According to a spokesman for the Department of Finance: ‘‘The vast majority of government capital projects are still funded out of our own resources.”
Of a total spend of €78 billion under the government’s omnibus National Development Plan, PPPs will account for just €13 billion by 2013. The target of €13.35 billion comprises €11 billion for PPPs funded by future ‘‘unitary payments’’ and €2 billion to be paid by user charges, such as road tolls.
So it’s not, as has been advertised in some quarters, the wholesale privatisation of government spending. But it’s not chicken feed either; there’s a lot of business here for developers and other private operators.
According to one source who is well-versed in the area, politicians love PPPs because they keep the cost of the project off their balance sheet - enabling a range of projects to proceed more rapidly than would be the case if each was provided by the public body themselves.
When they work, said the source, they deliver projects more efficiently and speedily than publicly-run projects. So, when they work well, they work well. And when they don’t work well? Then the developer cuts and runs?
In fact, according to two people familiar with the Dublin City Council-McNamara deal, it was not a deal on the classic PPP model. ‘‘It wasn’t really a PPP at all,” said one.
‘‘It was a property deal. And when the property market goes wallop, property deals run into trouble.
‘‘A real PPP involves the private sector doing everything and being remunerated over, say, a 30-year period,” said another source. ‘‘These housing schemes were never PPPs.”
Whether it’s a real PPP or a poor imitation, local authorities like these arrangements because they get new infrastructure, but without large loans. ‘‘It’s risk-free,” said one source last week, adding ruefully. ‘‘Well it’s supposed to be.”
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
The scheme would have built hundreds of units of social and affordable housing in some of the poorest areas of inner-city Dublin. Some flagship projects will now be the subject of close examination in the coming weeks. For a government which has staked its political reputation - and built an electoral strategy - on massive infrastructural investment, it’s a worrying development.
Dublin City Council is understood to be urgently reviewing other PPP projects, and has been in contact with several other developer-consortiums. Some are believed to have responded positively at this stage, but not all.
The council will also examine the possibility of legal action against McNamara. A counter-suit by the builder is also possible.
It’s also a sign that PPPs are not the catch-all solution that many once thought. It’s clear they work very well in some cases in some markets - but not in all cases in all markets.
PPPs are a relatively recent addition to the tools available to government, though the administration of Bertie Ahern enthusiastically adopted them as its public-building programme gathered pace in its second term. There were, according to the Department of Finance, relatively few such projects prior to 2003. Since then, there has been an explosion in their use by government.
The department lists more than 80 projects in its latest PPP update, but many of these include multiple construction projects - one, under the auspices of the Department of Education, includes six new schools.
The rest of the projects vary from roads projects, other educational building works, the National Conference Centre, Concert Hall and new National Theatre, government offices for decentralised departments, the planned Metro, a new Luas line, new prisons, a mass of local authority housing, sewage and drainage schemes and the proposed incinerator for Poolbeg in Dublin.
However, while it may seem that every government building project is now being handed over to the private sector, this isn’t the case.
According to a spokesman for the Department of Finance: ‘‘The vast majority of government capital projects are still funded out of our own resources.”
Of a total spend of €78 billion under the government’s omnibus National Development Plan, PPPs will account for just €13 billion by 2013. The target of €13.35 billion comprises €11 billion for PPPs funded by future ‘‘unitary payments’’ and €2 billion to be paid by user charges, such as road tolls.
So it’s not, as has been advertised in some quarters, the wholesale privatisation of government spending. But it’s not chicken feed either; there’s a lot of business here for developers and other private operators.
According to one source who is well-versed in the area, politicians love PPPs because they keep the cost of the project off their balance sheet - enabling a range of projects to proceed more rapidly than would be the case if each was provided by the public body themselves.
When they work, said the source, they deliver projects more efficiently and speedily than publicly-run projects. So, when they work well, they work well. And when they don’t work well? Then the developer cuts and runs?
In fact, according to two people familiar with the Dublin City Council-McNamara deal, it was not a deal on the classic PPP model. ‘‘It wasn’t really a PPP at all,” said one.
‘‘It was a property deal. And when the property market goes wallop, property deals run into trouble.
‘‘A real PPP involves the private sector doing everything and being remunerated over, say, a 30-year period,” said another source. ‘‘These housing schemes were never PPPs.”
Whether it’s a real PPP or a poor imitation, local authorities like these arrangements because they get new infrastructure, but without large loans. ‘‘It’s risk-free,” said one source last week, adding ruefully. ‘‘Well it’s supposed to be.”
Sunday Business Post
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)