Ireland: University College Dublin has shelved plans to build more than 1,200 student apartments on its campus, as the development was no longer viable due to rising construction costs.
UCD submitted a planning application to An Bord Pleanála in 2018 to construct 3,006 student beds, across seven residential blocks. The plans were to double the amount of student accommodation on its campus over three phases of building.
The first phase of construction was completed last year and provided 924 new student residences, along with a student facilities building. The second phase, which has now been paused due to escalating construction costs, was due to add a further 1,254 beds, with 828 on-campus beds envisioned in the third phase of construction.
The university wrote to minister for higher education Simon Harris earlier this year, stating the planned project could not go ahead, due to “increased construction costs and constraints on further rent increases”, according to a report in the The Irish Times.
Mark Rogers, acting UCD president, said the university had sought a contractor to build the extra campus accommodation, but the prices received by bidders were all too high.
Rogers said the significant student accommodation project was “not viable” at present, and the university was “not in a position to go ahead with the development at this time”.
He added that “in order to provide future student housing that is affordable to our students, it must be viable for us to construct”, stating that with further government support, the university could “play a significant role in alleviating the problem” for students.
The correspondence was released to The College Tribune student newspaper following a Freedom of Information Act request.
A spokeswoman for UCD said that the expected cost of construction for the accommodation had “doubled”, and as such “the university could not afford to go ahead with the project”.
The Department of Further and Higher Education said officials had met with UCD to discuss the project. A department spokesman said “this engagement is ongoing at present and options are being considered to activate this project. This will include for the first time the State assisting with the cost of building student accommodation beds and unlocking projects which have been postponed in return for affordable rents for target students,” he said.
