Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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64. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if the latest phase of rapid build social housing projects are costing on average €240,000 per unit; and his views on whether this cost can be justified in comparison to the average cost of providing standard social housing, acquisitions, refurbishments, repair and lease scheme units and repair and purchase scheme units. [8991/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Rapid build schemes completed and tendered to date compare favourably with the cost of standard social housing build units and acquisitions in the vicinity. I do not anticipate any significant departure from normal build costs.   While rapid build schemes have the potential to carry a construction cost premium for accelerated delivery, the experience to date indicates that this is off-set by the reduction in overall construction timeline.

It should be noted that all rapid build homes are required to comply with the minimum standards of the Building Regulations, including the requirement for key elements of rapid build homes to have a 60 year durability. It should be noted also that the progression of the rapid build programme is not resulting in other social housing delivery mechanisms being discontinued. A wide range of delivery schemes are operated by my Department as part of a blended approach to social housing delivery. My Department continues to be available to engage with all local authorities in relation to the use of all schemes in their areas.