UCD have shelved plans for 1,200 student beds due to "spiralling" construction costs.
The college’s student accommodation development was “not viable” in the context of spiralling inflation, correspondence between UCD president Mark Rogers and Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has revealed. The project, which aimed to solve accommodation issues for UCD students, involved the development of 1,200 on-campus student apartments.
The university had sought a contractor to build the extra campus accommodation, but the prices received by bidders were all too high, Mr Rogers said in correspondence released to the student newspaper The College Tribune, following a Freedom of Information Act request. A UCD spokeswoman further told the Irish Times that the expected cost of construction for the accommodation had “doubled” due to “war in Ukraine, supply difficulties and rising inflation”.
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In a May 12 letter, Mr Rogers said the project was “not viable” at present, and the university was “not in a position to go ahead with the development at this time”. Further government support could alleviate the problem for students however, he said.
Officials from the Department of Higher Education have already met with UCD to discuss a number of options to re-activate the project. One of these options is the State helping with the building costs, a department spokesman told the Irish Times.
Mr Harris has previously said his department was progressing plans to provide funding to help universities build student housing, where developments had planning permission but had stalled. Students faced a major accommodation crisis at the start of the college year this autumn due to a housing shortage and unaffordable rental prices, which led to protests on Dublin's streets.
The frozen development was the second of a three-part UCD project to double the amount of student accommodation on its campus. In 2018, the university submitted a planning application to An Bord Pleanála to construct 3,006 student beds across seven residential blocks.
The first phase, which provided 924 new student residences and a student facilities building, was completed last year at a cost of €145 million. The currently paused second phase was due to add 1,254 beds, with 828 more were to be added in the third phase of construction.
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