DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has issued a tender worth almost €1bn for prefabricated factory-built homes as part of the local authority’s efforts to clear its social housing waiting list.

The council has called for contractors to design and build the homes in two lots: one for projects which will cost less than €15m and another for those more expensive than €15m.

The new units will a comprise a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom apartments which will be offered to families on the council’s social housing waiting list.

They will be pre-built in factories as pods, before being transported and grouped together in stacks on sites earmarked for modular housing.

It is hoped that contracts for the scheme, which developers can apply for until October 1, will begin to be offered from November.

The units are then expected to be finished within 6-8 months of contracts being offered.

Despite the overall tender being worth up to €950 million, neither the Department of Housing or Dublin City Council confirmed how many homes would be built when asked by TheJournal.ie.

However, funding for the homes will be provided through the Department of Housing’s normal capital allocation for social housing.

The Department of Housing also revealed that while Dublin City Council has issued the tender for the units, some of the homes will be used outside the capital.

“The majority of the projects are and will be advanced across Dublin but there are also schemes being developed in other cities and towns across the country,” a spokesman told TheJournal.ie.

He also said that other local authorities are currently working on proposals similar to the one outlined in Dublin City Council’s tender.

Dublin City Council currently has plans to construct around 1,000 rapid-build social houses at different locations throughout the city.

The first batch of houses from the tender is expected to be located at Bunratty Road in Coolock, on the northside of the city.

With additional reporting from Sean Murray.