First Cork modular homes for Ukrainian refugees to be handed over in two weeks

Projects have been dogged by delays and opposition from some local communities with a number of protests outside earmarked sites

Modular homes under construction at the Ballinure Land Bank, St Michael's Drive, Mahon, Cork City. Pictures: Eddie O'Hare

The first of 700 modular homes for Ukrainian refugees will be handed over in Mahon in Cork in two weeks, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

The Housing Committee was told on Tuesday by the Office of Public Works that the delayed units will "continue to flow" through the summer.

Ciaran O'Connor of the OPW told the committee that the office had been asked initially to provide 500 units on state-owned lands, but that this had been revised upwards to 700.

Mr O'Connor said that the OPW had "learned a lot" and had "taken an industry that was in junior infants into secondary school".

The projects have been dogged by delays and opposition from some local communities with a number of protests held outside earmarked sites.

It is estimated that the rapid-build homes will cost between €165,000 per two-bedroom unit to develop and they would house Ukrainians for up to three years, at which point they will be offered to the local authority for social housing.

The units have a lifespan of up to 60 years.

Mr O'Connor said that the units were designed to be "plug and play" and were delivered fully fitted out.

He said that the OPW had set out a single standard because some manufacturers "were operating with no standards" and that the homes comply with both building regulations and housing standards.

He said that the homes could be taken intact and given to Ukraine as part of rebuilding efforts if the Government decided but that many of the homes can become interconnected and form larger homes.

Social housing standards

He said that the site layouts all meet social housing standards in terms of parking and materials.

The Mahon site at Ballinure had been owned by Cork City Council but had been used for "fly-tipping and all sorts of things". 

He praised the community of Thurles where 62 homes are being built as "being very welcoming".

He said that the OPW has now "cracked" how to build the modular homes that are two- and three-storey and will soon go to tender on a site with two-storey homes.

These homes come in four parts, he said, and are brought by crane and put together on site.

The Cork project has been dogged by delays and opposition. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Mr O'Connor told Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe that the build price was similar to a standard home per square metre. He said that the delay in the delivery of the homes was that the sites were not serviced.

"We had the units, we didn't have the sites," Mr O'Connor said. He added that many sites were "tricky" to resolve.

The discussion of the committee was focused on the use of new building methods as part of the solution to the housing crisis.

In his opening statement, Mark Carlin of Coillte called for timber construction rules to be changed.

"Our building regulations currently have a 10-metre height limit in the use of timber, which is only three storeys.

"Mass timber buildings of up to 24 stories are being constructed elsewhere, so the regulations must be changed in Ireland.

"We are also of the view that embodied carbon needs to be measured and quantified for all new builds."