Continued from Page 2
The Northern Irish Housing Executive's Servia Street scheme, Belfast, achieved an Ecohomes Excellent rating
"If it happens it will create a funding problem. Even if we don't get the full amount from SEI, just the costs of the extras like insulation over and above the normal, that would be something," he says.
"If we went with oil it would be much cheaper [to build] but we don't want to. We don't know where the oil is going in the future and then there's the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive—what if they come around a few years down the line and tell us the houses aren't up to spec?
Peter Lyons, the architect who designed the Tullamore scheme, explains that, at present no-one is sure what will happen: "We have been told by the architect in the Department of the Environment that because the SEI funding was given by the government, we couldn't have 100 per cent funding."
Despite this, Tullamore has moved ahead: "We've made a case for getting the full grant," says Lyons. "They haven't mentioned [that] in their final report."
Lyons, however, doesn't necessarily see the department's policy as a disincentive to build sustainable housing and explains that it was indicated to him that the department preferred the House of Tomorrow funding to go to private developers, as SEI would have a better chance of making an impact there, and that the Department of the Environment itself could fund sustainable development in social housing.
The good, the bad and the necessary
It appears that the Irish approach to social housing is that it, like the poor, is always with us. In modern Ireland a combination of unevenly spread hyper-capitalism and noblesse oblige has resulted in the development of a minimal approach to social housing.
Dermot Geoghegan, principal architect at Dermot Geoghegan Architects in Carlow, feels that there is an, at present missed, opportunity to develop interesting architecture that is responsive to the needs of residents.
"I think that a lot of social housing has been driven by a very pragmatic approach on the part of local authorities—programmatic design which in visual and other terms are impractical.
"On the social side, we have a situation where a lot has been done, but there still persists the notion that people will have to make do with what they're given. There persists still a substandard approach to social housing, particularly in rural areas," says Geoghegan.
“There have been [some] very thoughtful schemes in urban areas such as Dublin. In high density conurbations it's increasingly linked to ideas of social enfranchisement and regeneration. In rural areas [however] we're seeing the usual houses on the fringes of town with minimal areas of open space," he says.
"There are a lot of people who know a little, but few who know enough," says Geoghegan. "The idea of integrating environmental developments in houses, public social housing, is crucial. The government should be encouraging it—they should have been doing it well prior to January 2007.
"We're now in a position where local authorities should have forward planners that work hand-in-glove with people who understand environmental issues."
Nevertheless, Geoghegan does not feel that all is lost and argues for the creation of benchmark developments, set around the Fingal Standard: "Smaller counties like Carlow and Louth are in a position where they could be firebrands due to there being less political issues [within the county councils]. There is an opportunity to create pockets of excellent sustainable architecture in the country."
According to Geoghegan, the reason why the issue of sustainable public housing has been able to slide down the agenda is simply a question of the practicalities of life: "I think that the priorities of people going into social housing are often looking after their children, getting them educated and generally getting on [in life]. The environment is way down the list," he says.
"Government stewardship is the issue. I would move it from the area of individual responsibility to one of collective opportunity."
Continued on Page 4
