€6m 'Lost' On Stalled Dublin Schemes

It's not just 'new build' construction projects that are running into economic problems as the current recession in the construction trade bites.

The Herald newspaper has reported that Dublin City Council has spent over €6m in "unrecoverable costs" on five stalled regeneration schemes around the capital.

The local authority has revealed it splashed out a total of €6.1m to date on "advertising, exhibitions, legal expenses, professional services and consultancy" for the public-private partnerships (PPPs).

The projects in question are St Michael's Estate in Inchicore and the north inner city plans for O'Devaney Gardens, Sean MacDermott Street, Dominick Street, and Infirmary Road.

Doubts were cast on all five PPPs in May after developer Bernard McNamara signalled he was withdrawing from the schemes.

However, the council is currently in discussions with Mr McNamara in a bid to find a way forward in at least some of the projects.

City officials say they have spent €2.59m in unrecoverable costs on St Michael's Estate and €1.78m on O'Devaney Gardens.

A further €1.74m was spent on the other three PPPs.

The information was revealed to Councillor Christy Burke (SF), who asked the local authority for a breakdown of costs on preparation work for the schemes.

A contractor had won the tender to redevelop the five sites into a mix of social homes and private apartments in separate bids.

The total value of the contracts is €900m.

At the council meeting in June, city housing official Ciaran McNamara revealed the developer was putting forward new proposals on how the projects could proceed.

"I told him the projects can only proceed within in the context of the rules of the PPP process as he bid for it," the official told the meeting.

Concern had been growing about the fate of the €265m St Michael's project after progress had been painfully slow.

The St Michael's project, which has been in planning since 2001, was to include 720 new private and social housing units, a crèche, a civic centre, retail spaces, restaurants, bars, a health centre and all-weather pitches.

Some 278 flats at O'Devaney Gardens were to be demolished and replaced with 830 new homes, of which 300 were planned to be sold on the open market.

(BMcC)