'Standard designs needed' for social housing in Mayo
A call has been made on Mayo County Council to develop standard designs to facilitate the rapid building of housing developments for people seeking social and affordable homes.
Highlighting the issue at a recent meeting of the council's stategic policy committee for housing, committee chairperson Cllr Peter Flynn said he knew of a development of 86 houses approved for planning permission in a Mayo town last year last year and asked: “Why can’t we ask that developer to do another 86 of the same design in other towns? There are planning permissions already out there lying idle if people only had the wherewithal to use them. We have a significant number approved and ready to go but they need financing.”
Cllr Harry Barrett echoed the call, saying: “Is it not the case we could have a standard design around affordable housing and just copy that out like it was done 150 years ago with British infrastructure such as standard post offices and courthouses. This can be done.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne referred to a successful council housing scheme in Carnacon, saying: “It is absolutely brilliant. If you can take the plans of that and adjust to other developments it will take just a few days.”
The council's senior architect Simon Wall informed members that the council has over 40 green field sites around the county and that staff in the architects’ office are working at full capacity, adding: “To increase our efficiency we split the department in two where one set deliver traditional designs from beginning to end and others deliver on tenders to external developers. So that allowed us to take over 40 sites, almost 50, and we have applied for more staff and are ever hopeful, but we are absolutely at capacity and are delighted to be so.”
He said standard design could readily be used on green fields sites but derelict housing required additional work. As to suggestions of effectively copying and pasting house designs, he said he was “very endeared by Cllr Flynn’s confidence in the architects".
- Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
