Transcript Eiblhin O'Connor

MS O'CONNOR:  Firstly thanks to the NDA for inviting me here to speak on behalf of Clúid Housing Association.  In my presentation I'm going to talk to you a little about who Clúid are and what we do.

Can you hear me now?  I'm going to talk a little about who Clúid are for the people who aren't familiar with housing associations, I'll ‑‑ I'm going to focus on one particular project, it's a sheltered housing scheme that's currently under construction in Cabra and it's interesting from a Universal Design aspect.

I'm going to talk to you about how we collaborate with our tenants and how they have a direct input into the design of any of our new build schemes.  I'll also talk about the funding model that we use and the cost comparison between a standard developer construction cost and the difference between that and Universal Design construction costs.

Also just going through the presentation I'll talk a little about our other services and support services with tenants.

Firstly who are we?  We are a national social housing provider, we provide homes to people on the local authority housing lists.  We're voluntary housing body and we provide ‑‑ housing associations in Ireland provided over a quarter of all social housing in the last ten years.

So social houses play a crucial role in the housing system, that goes without saying, we look for good quality affordable housing, we know first hand the impact that fuel poverty and bad design has on our tenants, on the quality of life and in particular our older tenants, I'll talk a little more about that with the scheme that I'll focus on.

So Clúid are the largest housing association in Ireland and play a central role in the delivery of social housing.

We have a very ambitious programme over the next three years, we can provide the bricks and mortar and houses, but it's our tenants that actually create homes and thriving communities.

We have 5,500 properties nationwide and we provide homes for over 13,000 people, as I said we have an ambitious programme, 230 million spend over the next three years and 83 million is in our own construction programme, our own design build projects.  But the most important figure on the slide is actually the 90,000 people on the housing list, so Clúid hope to have a big impact on that figure going forward.

How do we get our houses?  We purchase them.  We purchase them from developers, we purchase them from receivers, banks, and we purchase them directly from NAMA and other bodies.  We regenerate.  This project is St. Michael's Road, a project we did in conjunction with Longford Town Council, we do several of these projects throughout the country, we generally do one a year, because they are so time consuming.

Our preference is to build because we've more control over the design and we've more control over quality.  And before ‑‑ this is actually the picture behind me is Broom Lodge, the project that I'm going to focus on, it doesn't look like much at the moment, it's a lot of concrete blocks, scaffolding, cranes and concrete mixers, but I promise you in ten months time it will look like an amazing project.

What I'd like to do is show you a video first, before I focus on the project, on the other aspect of Clúid, it's housing management services what we provide to our tenants, so again it's not just the houses, it's all the extra supports.  So I'll show you a short video, it's based in our sheltered housing scheme in Clifden, St. Joseph's and the lady speaking on the video is Kathleen, she is the scheme manager, for every sheltered housing scheme we provide a scheme manager and a caretaker, to support the tenants in the scheme.

(Video)  "Ageing poses challenges for all members of society and it's through sheltered accommodation like this that Clúid provides, that empowers people to be independent.  Today we're here at St. Joseph's Court in Clifden, where we have 43 apartments that were built specifically for older people here in Clifden.  43 apartments, we have 43 patches on this quilt and each square represents the people in each apartment.

When the group met every week there was about 300 cups of tea drank, there was a lot of brainstorming about what was important to them in their life as they grew up, what's important to them today.  What was important to them when they were young?

I suppose what was quite unique about this project is that it was inclusive of everybody.  Some of the people came down to the weekly class downstairs, which was the brainstorming, others just talked in their apartment, the coordinator went in and met with them, she drew a sketch of what they wanted in their patch and then that sketch was passed onto the team downstairs every Thursday that pulled it together.

Some of them were good at knitting, some are good at sewing or whatever it was.  That was what was pulled together on the weekly events.  So together between the sketches, and the needlework and the tea and the chat and the craic, this is what was developed from that.

There was always a good sense of community in here, but for some reason this project pulled that community even closer together.  And because of that there was friendships developed, there was camaraderie, coffee mornings galore, there was outings to beat the band.

Now we have people visiting each other in their apartments, they are going off down the shop together, they are having, going out having a meal together, they are linking out into the wider community, because people from the wider community came in here to assist us in pulling this together.

So it has created a great sense of community spirit around the place, it also has enabled people that are not normally involved, to be part of the wider community, both in Clifden and in St. Joseph's Court."

Okay the important thing about that is tenant and community cross‑engagement, it's really important for Clúid that we keep our tenants in their homes as long as possible.  I suppose the difference between that project and the project I'm going to show you is that was a converted convent, so it was a little more difficult ‑‑ it was a high cost, adaptations were difficult.  But when you have a blank canvas and a brownfield site there's so much more you can do and not necessarily at an additional cost.

So Broome Lodge is a project under construction as you saw, it's 43 apartments in the one scheme, there are 35 one‑beds and eight two‑beds, there's also an additional suite for visitors, so family that want to visit, they can book the guest room, or if there's a carer that needs to stay overnight and check in on one of our tenants, they can have the room.

So some of the key features, as part of ‑‑ we have applied the Universal Design principles in the overall design of the project, but ten of the units themselves will be Universal Design plus, so I know that Neil Murphy will talk to you later a little more about the difference between Universal Design standard and plus and plus plus, so I won't get into that in this presentation.

The size of the units themselves are very comparable to the Dublin City Council Development Plan standards.  Now unfortunately the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government have I suppose issued minimum standards which are far lower than these, 55 square metres for a one‑bed and 80 square metres for a two‑bed, minimum standard for a one‑bed is 45 square metres, which is difficult to make sure, in particular if you're looking at a Universal Design unit, it just doesn't work.

So other key features in the building are a community room, again that brings, that allows for community engagement and tenant engagement.  All the apartments are accessible, the outdoor space is accessible.  We have assisted living technologies already built in within the units, so they are future proofed.  Building construction allows for flexibility, UD designed homes need to be adaptable, flexible and usable for everyone.  So we have adopted that in our design.  We've also adopted electrical and mechanical appropriate controls locations, we have looked at all that.  The lift size are sized appropriately and we've colour coded the whole building, so it's really clear, very legible and you can follow your way through the building.

So this is an example of a one‑bedroom apartment layout.  You can see the key factors there are highlighted, but turning circles similar to Victor, we've looked at the layout and how flexible it is and how easy it is to move around.  It's all level access, the turning circles are 1,500, again in this particular unit we're looking at an L shaped unit, rather than sticking all storage in one big room we've looked at how can we make that storage space more accessible?

The tenant feedback, this is all part of our tenant feedback actually, they've looked for that storage that's easily accessible, they've also looked for access between the main bedroom into the bathroom, originally we are going to put a soft spot, but when we spoke a little more about it to them, we decided to put in that door, so it's a permanent door.  But it means that long‑term if a hoist needs to be put in, then we have direct access from the main bathroom to the bedroom.

This is an example of the two‑bedroom apartment in the scheme, this is 80 square metres, much bigger and has a second bedroom for maybe a carer or visiting family relative.  Again it has direct access from main bedroom to bathroom, good circulation and access, level access to the balcony, so they have their own private open space to access.

Again this is a sample of the kitchen design in the one‑bed apartments, in the two‑bed apartments we have also changed to the U shaped kitchen, which is accessible with a turning circle in the middle, but for the one‑bed apartment it is an L shape, which is easily accessible.

Again we're applying all the guidance from the Universal Design guidance.  So other features in the building are the accessible community laundry room, every tenant has their own washing machine within their apartment, but this is for the big stuff, the duvet covers and things like that.  So they can come together to the laundry room and our scheme manager or caretaker will help them access the big driers and washers, they are all at a level which is accessible.

We also have a centralised, the apartments are designed around a centralised courtyard, so the landscaping and similar again to what Victor showed in his presentation, will have different heights and levels of planters so people, again tenants can get engaged in planting or else just sit in the space and enjoy the atmosphere.

Throughout the building there are social areas, so little, we've made corridors wider so there is an opportunity for people to stop and talk to each other and engage with each other.

So how have we funded this project?  Well the project is funded predominantly through private finance raised by Clúid Housing Association, that's 66%, from commercial banks or the Housing Finance Agency.  The remainder of the funding comes from the government, so through a Capital Assistance Scheme, which is 22% and that Capital Assistance Scheme is directly related to the 10 Universal Design plus units, the capital assistance leasing fund then is the remainder and it's linked to the private finance, and we've done this project in conjunction with Dublin City Council, they've provided the site to us, a brownfield site at nominal fee.

So there's a perception out there that Universal Design is very expensive, it's more expensive than the standard construction, it doesn't need to be.  We've looked at it, the costs that we're spending every year to provide adaptations to our tenants is enormous.  So we look at this, as far as we're concerned it's a no‑brainer, it's future proofing, it's cheaper to think first rather than having to adapt later on.

So the extra over, we're running a pilot with this project in conjunction with National Disability Authority and Centre for Excellence in Universal Design and we really are looking at what is the cost difference between standard construction, when you sit down and think about it and plan it out properly, and universal construction?

So the standard apartment in this building is costing us 163,500 and the extra over for a little bit of planning is 4,150.  So that is not significant when you think if we had to adapt all of those units later on.

So the benefits.  Well the benefits, we don't have any adaptation costs, we keep our tenants in homes as long as possible.  We reduce capital costs for local authorities and grants and if they are universally designed you find that you don't actually have to provide as much supports to the tenants themselves, so they can live independently for as long as possible.

So I suppose designing the UD and applying Universal Design guidance, the issues we came up with, designers weren't necessarily familiar and there is a big education piece there, we've run workshops with our design team, that was very helpful at the outset of the project, and again the National Disability Authority were involved in that and it was really helpful.

I would suggest a construction stage and we are doing it in November, just before the first fix of electrical and mechanical, that we're going to sit down with the main contractor and the subcontractors, the people who actually do the work, they are used to doing standard construction, they are not thinking about where sockets are, where lights are, where controls are, how simple the controls are, how easy they are to use.  They are not thinking like that, so it's really, really important to have a workshop with them, explain the importance of why you're doing it, it's simple intelligence.  So we're doing that in November and hopefully that will inform, we won't have any mistakes on site and everything will go swimmingly.

So as I say, on site, education, training, familiarising the subcontractors with Universal Design is crucially important.

(Video)  "People with disabilities deserve the same opportunities as they do today.  I lived in care for 13 years and I had no prior experiences of formal education.  This did not stop me from completing and gaining my degree in UCC, when I was there I realised there was more to life and I began the process that led to me living independently.

Now I can choose my own meals and what I wear each day and with the help of personal assistance can go where I please.

I can further my education, to move out of care and to exhibit my artwork.  Every week I work with my art tutors Don and Carol.

The spark for many artists is do they have the necessary ingredients?  Which I suppose you could describe as a passion.  Mary has the feel for the thing, she understands it.  She has her own unique type of style.

Mary's love and strength is in colour.  And seascapes and landscapes.  She actually is so happy to fire into her own abstract paintings now, she's fully confident.  That's what's happened over the last three years, it's just confidence building.

I try not to let my limitations get the better of me, but I realise without my disability I wouldn't be me.  A friend gave me a present of a saying that means the greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

For me it's so true, because I do get pleasure when people see that I have such an active and fulfilled life.

MS O'CONNOR:  Mary is one of our tenants, she lived with us since 2009 in Joyce's Court in Cork.  I'd love to have been able to hand the keys to Mary on the very first day and say here you go, off you go, move into your new home.  But that wasn't the case unfortunately.  She had to wait quite a while for adaptations in our own existing ‑‑ it was a scheme that we purchased, so we had to carry out adaptations specifically for Mary.

But it wasn't just in her apartment, it was in the whole building, so the whole access control, the approach to the building, everything had to be re‑thought.  So it was an expensive process, but Mary wanted to go to college, she had to get out of a care home, so we had to provide her with a home and that was it.  So we're delighted that she's very happy in her new home, but I would say that it shouldn't happen.  We should be handing keys over and our ambition I suppose is that our homes will be suitable for everybody.  Thank you.