Doubts have emerged over the future of Dublin City Council’s flagship cost-rental regeneration project following the termination of the contract with the lead architects behind the scheme.
The council has ended its contract with Bucholz McEvoy Architects and advertised for tenders for the development of almost 600 cost rental and social homes at the former St Michael’s Estate in Inchicore, now known as the Emmet Road Development.
An application for the homes, designed by Bucholz McEvoy, has already been submitted to An Bord Pleanála for approval.
Inchicore Regeneration Consultative Forum (IRCF), a stakeholders oversight group established by the council, has written to the council stating it is “extremely concerned” by the move which was made without consultation.
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“The IRCF are at a loss as to how this decision was made and unless an understanding of the reason for the decision is known, the IRCF are paralysed as to how this project can proceed successfully,” independent forum chairman, Eamon Devoy, wrote.
“It was the understanding of the IRCF that Bucholz McEvoy Architects (BMCEA) ERD [Emmet Road Development] Integrated Design Team were contracted for the full duration of the project. This was made clear from the various presentations given to both the IRCF and at public consultations,” he said, adding that “it was not the IRCF’s understanding that BMCEA’s contract was to be terminated”.
The forum was “extremely concerned that the change in the design team will mean that the considerable voluntary investment and enthusiasm for the proposed Emmet Road development by members of the IRCF and wider community will be lost and that there will be no ongoing co-design and community participation in the detailed design process,” Mr Devoy wrote.
“The IRCF believe that the community must be fully engaged with the process of the Emmet Road development if it is to succeed and form the catalyst for the regeneration of Inchicore.”
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A spokesman for the council said it does “not comment on live procurement or contractual matters”. Bucholz McEvoy Architects said it was not in a position to comment on the matter.
The project, announced almost five years ago, was submitted to An Bord Pleanála last October with designs by Bucholz McEvoy Architects for a complex ranging in height from three to seven storeys. The residential buildings were designed in two plots around landscaped courtyards with green spaces for residents and play areas for children.
The cost-rental plans for St Michael’s were announced in July 2018 by then minister for housing, Eoghan Murphy. In December 2020, the council said plans would be lodged with An Bord Pleanála in April 2021 but the project stalled during the pandemic.
Cost rental apartments for low and middle-income workers, where the rents are based on the cost of building and managing the homes and not market rates, will account for 70 per cent of the 578 homes, with the remaining 30 per cent to be used for social housing.
St Michael’s Estate has been earmarked for regeneration since the late 1990s. It was one of five sites, including O’Devaney Gardens, to be redeveloped with social and private housing under a public-private partnership deal between the council and developer Bernard McNamara, which collapsed in 2008. In 2014, the council completed Thornton Heights on part of the site, a social housing complex of 75 homes.
