COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, June 14, 2021

QUESTION NO. 16

QUESTION: Councillor David McManus

To ask the Chief Executive to outline the average length of time involved for direct build social housing by South Dublin County Council for every stage of the process; from design, public consultation, Part 8 planning and approval from the Department of Housing to procurement and construction completion?

REPLY:

The Council has completed a total of 358 direct build housing units on twelve schemes over the period 2016 to 2019 inclusive.  The average length of time for design is difficult to quantify as a record is not kept of the timeline for the design stage which can depend on the range of other projects being managed by our Architectural Services Department and can also often be in process for a considerable period or can involve revisiting previously developed designs for specific sites.

Timelines on the developments completed in the period outline were recorded from when the Part 8 public consultation stage commences - the Part 8 stage can take up to 20 weeks under legislation but for which the average period for these projects was 85 just less than three months.  The Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage (DHLGH) four-stage approval process must be followed for each construction project with the Council is required to seek approval from DHLGH at capital appraisal stage, pre-planning stage, pre-tender stage and post-tender stage but in relation to some of the twelve schemes planning approval had been obtained prior to rather than during this DHLGH approval process.  The average overall time for approval through the DHLGH four-stage approval process for these projects was just over 19 months.

Upon receipt of stage 4 post-tender approval from DHLGH, the Council then appoints a contractor to deliver the construction project and the average time from final DHLGH approval to completion of the developments in this was approximately 18.75 months.