Wooden start: Could focus on timber frame homes ease housing crisis?

Our man Frank on why wooden houses could help ease the housing crisis; The need to utilise local walking amenities; Local dining options… and Kevin’s party!

We all know about the huge shortage of houses and accommodation all over the country and the resultant outrageous numbers of homeless people and families we have. For a while now I have wondered why we aren’t putting up wooden structures to accommodate people, given that these are substantially cheaper than conventional housing.

I had sort of put it to the back of my mind until a reader from South Roscommon got in touch on the same subject, asking me to highlight what he thinks would be an obvious solution to the housing crisis.

As a result of his call, I got in touch with one of the suppliers of timber frame houses in the east of the country, and the proprietor told me that conventional, block-built houses are costing between two and a half and three times the cost of the timber frame ones. When I pushed him, he estimated that to be fully finished to a Ber A rating, with all groundworks done and the house fully completed, a

Supporting local businesses

For a good while now I have been hearing nice things about local pubs, restaurants and hotels that are doing a great Sunday lunch trade – and indeed great Sunday lunches. The truth is that I never seemed to have the time to go to any of these popular places!

Joe Dolan’s in Fuerty, the Malt House in Mountbellew, and Jimmy Screene’s in Guilka (near Moylough) are among the many local establishments that have built up great reputations for top quality food, but most Sundays I would be going to a rugby or football match and therefore have no time to go anywhere else.

However, last Sunday I booked a table for two, for two o’clock, in Screene’s in Guilka. There were a huge number of families eating there, and, as always, the food was superb and the value was even better. As someone who hadn’t had Sunday lunch in a long, long time (if ever), I have now been so impressed that I intend to pay an occasional visit to some of the places that are within a reasonable distance. Please support these local establishments!

four-bedroomed wooden structure would cost about €100k to €120k. As we all know, a four-bedroomed standard house, with the huge increase in the price of building products, is now costing at least €300k to €350k to build, so I can’t understand why we aren’t looking at the Scandinavian model, particularly the Swedish one, where timber houses are very popular.

My contact (the reader) reckoned that a combination of business interests –including banks, construction companies and politicians – are all united in their opposition to the provision of cheaper houses, as the banks want to be giving out large mortgages, the builders want to be building expensive houses, and the Government needs prices to stay high in order for them to gather in more revenue from the building sector.

Now I don’t know if he is right or wrong, but as I write this on Monday morning, I have an outstanding invite to go to see a lived-in four-bedroomed wooden house on the Eastern seaboard, and I will give you a full report in the next week or two.

In the meantime, it is my opinion that solving the housing problem could be done with a bit of enlightened thinking, and with the provision of wooden houses and the reconstruction of thousands of derelict structures around the country made a priority.