Annual Total Cost of Development Study

Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage

The Annual Total Development Cost Study for 2026 will build on the 2025 Insights into Total Development Costs Study, and will be similarly formatted to the 2024 and 2025 reports. The 2026 study will provide comprehensive analysis of the total cost of residential development across various locations in Ireland, updated with Q1 2026 construction costs. It will focus on five regional areas provisionally: Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and the North West, and five typologies (See methodology) based on the Standardised Design Approaches study. The study will perform a comparative assessment using urban and regional costs across the five selected locations, highlighting differences in land prices, service infrastructure, and labour availability in the regions. These insights will offer a regional view on the factors influencing development costs. The study will further refine its cost analysis findings by modelling alternative scenarios for financing, land acquisition and development firm models. By providing annual updates and a clear regional perspective, the study will establish a benchmark for residential development costs in Ireland that can contribute to policy and industry practices toward more affordable delivery of housing. Further to this, a detailed analysis will be included of materials and finishes, which will evaluate their impact on construction costs, while considering quality and durability. This assessment will compare traditional construction methods with modern methods of construction to identify cost efficiencies and potential savings. Part of this study is the evaluation of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). The study will carry out a comparison of the cost of construction for one typical house and one apartment building in one location. The comparison will use a typical category 1 panelised system and a selected category 2 volumetric system for each building. The study will also identify the cost reduction opportunities available with bathroom pods. Any other significant cost reduction from standardised components should also be identified. The study will consider costs in regards to four different methods of construction for one house typology. The methods of timber in construction, insulated concrete formwork, light gauge steel and standard concrete must be used in the types of buildings analysed. The report should outline the benefits of using MMC with a specific focus on improving efficiency and increasing scale in the construction of these types of buildings. This study will perform an Economies of Scale Analysis, whereby it will carry out a comparison of the cost of delivery for the 3 Bed Semi D and an apartment when delivered by a Public Limited Company (PLC), a medium size builder and a small builder for one location such as the Greater Dublin Area. As an additional feature, this study will incorporate opportunity costs by examining the economic value of alternative uses of land, capital, labour, and time, including the impacts of delayed delivery and underutilised capital over longer construction periods. This study will also allow for the analysis of opportunity costs associated with Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) by adding a value to the build time and the reduction of time in terms of savings; it will analyse the effect of this on the overall cost and efficiency of housing delivery.

Deadline

The time limit for receipt of tenders was 2026-04-02. The procurement was published on 2026-02-26.

Suppliers

The following suppliers are mentioned in award decisions or other procurement documents:

• Mitchell McDermott Construction Consultants

Who?

• Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage

What?

Where?

• Aττική › Βόρειος Τομέας Αθηνών
• Eastern and Midland › Dublin

Procurement history

Date	Document
2026-02-26	Contract notice
2026-04-28	Contract award notice

Contract notice (2026-02-26)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Title: Annual Total Cost of Development Study
Short description:
“The Annual Total Development Cost Study for 2026 will build on the 2025 Insights into Total Development Costs Study, and will be similarly formatted to the...”

Short description

Type of contract: Services
Products/services: Research and development services and related consultancy services 📦
Estimated value excluding VAT: 150 000 EUR 💰
Description
Internal identifier: 0
Estimated value excluding VAT: 150 000 EUR 💰
Description of the procurement:
“The Annual Total Development Cost Study for 2026 will build on the 2025 Insights into Total Development Costs Study, and will be similarly formatted to the...”

Description of the procurement

Type of contract: Services
Products/services: Research and development services and related consultancy services 📦
Additional products/services: Real estate services 📦
Town: Dublin
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Place of performance: Dublin 🏙️
Duration: 8 months
Title
Lot Identification Number: LOT-0001
Scope of the procurement
Additional products/services: Real estate services 📦

Procedure
Type of procedure
Open procedure ✅
Legal basis: Directive 2014/24/EU
Administrative information
Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate: 2026-04-02 17:00:00 📅
Conditions for opening of tenders: 2026-04-07 00:00:00 📅
Conditions for opening of tenders (place): https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/prepareViewCfTWS.do?resourceId=7605492
Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted: English 🗣️
Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender: 90 days
Tendering terms
Tenderers may submit more than one tender
Opening date: 2026-04-07 00:00:00 📅
Place:
“https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/prepareViewCfTWS.do?resourceId=7605492”
Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted: English 🗣️
Electronic invoicing: Allowed
Electronic ordering will be used ✅
Electronic payment will be used ✅
Deadline for requesting additional information: 2026-03-20 17:00:00 📅

Contracting authority
Name and addresses
Name: Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage
National registration number: 4000068T
Postal address: Newtown Road
Postal code: Y35 AP90
Postal town: Wexford
Region: Dublin 🏙️
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
E-mail: strategy@housing.gov.ie 📧
Phone: +53 9117551 📞
URL: https://www.housing.gov.ie/ 🌏
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.housing.gov.ie/ 🌏
Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
Main activity
Housing and community amenities
Communication
Documents URL: https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/listContractDocuments.do?resourceId=7605492 🌏
Participation URL: https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/viewTenders.do?resourceId=7605492 🌏
Electronic submission: Required

Complementary information
Review body
Name: The High Court of Ireland
National registration number: The High Court of Ireland
Department: The High Court of Ireland
Postal address: Four Courts, Inns Quay, Dublin 7
Postal code: D07 WDX8
Postal town: Dublin
Region: Dublin 🏙️
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
E-mail: highcourtcentraloffice@courts.ie 📧
Phone: +353 1 8886000 📞
Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
Name: The High Court of Ireland
National registration number: The High Court of Ireland
Department: The High Court of Ireland
Postal address: Four Courts, Inns Quay, Dublin 7
Postal code: D07 WDX8
Postal town: Dublin
Region: Dublin 🏙️
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
E-mail: highcourtcentraloffice@courts.ie 📧
Phone: +353 1 8886000 📞
Information about electronic workflows
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic ordering will be used
Electronic payment will be used
Source: OJS 2026/S 041-140142 (2026-02-26)

Contract award notice (2026-04-28)
Object
Scope of the procurement
Estimated value excluding VAT: 150 000 EUR 💰
Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT): 127 730 EUR 💰
Description
Estimated value excluding VAT: 150 000 EUR 💰
Award criteria
Quality criterion (name): Most Economically Advantageous Tender
Justification for not indicating the weighting of the award criteria:
“n/a”

Award of contract
A contract/lot is awarded ✅
Lot Identification Number: LOT-0001
Contract Number: 439778
Date of conclusion of the contract: 2026-04-23 📅
Information about tenders
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 1
Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot: 127 730 EUR 💰
The tender was ranked
Rank in the list of winners: 1
Tender identifier: 000165549
Identifier of lot or group of lots: LOT-0001
Name and address of the contractor
Name: Mitchell McDermott Construction Consultants
National registration number: 555699
Department: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Postal code: D01W6XO
Postal town: Dublin
Region: Dublin 🏙️
Country: Ireland 🇮🇪
Contact point: Lian Harding
E-mail: pmitchell@mitchellmcdermott.com 📧
Size of the economic operator: Medium

Contracting authority
Name and addresses
Department: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Contact point: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Information about joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body ✅
Source: OJS 2026/S 083-293908 (2026-04-28)

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