Comhar Housing, a consortium comprising Macquarie Capital (Macquarie), John Sisk & Son Ltd. (Sisk) and Choice Housing Ireland Limited (Choice), has reached financial close on Ireland’s social housing bundle 1 (SHB1) public-private partnership (PPP) project. 

The €120 million (US$ 136.70 million) projects encompass the financing, design, construction, and maintenance of six social housing development sites located in and around Dublin – creating over 530 new homes and apartments. SHB1 forms part of the Irish government’s wider €300 million (US$ 341.77 million) commitment to deliver a total of 1,500 of social housing units and associated services via PPP. 

Comhar Housing was appointed preferred tenderer on 18 September 2018 by Ireland’s National Development Finance Agency and with Macquarie and Sisk acting as equity provider, Sisk as design and build subcontractor and of Choice as facilities management subcontractor. Oaklee Housing, a subsidiary of Choice, will undertake tenancy management as a key subcontractor. 

SHB1 is Ireland’s first social housing PPP project and follows Macquarie Capital’s previous role as sponsor on Ireland’s Schools Bundle 1 and 2 PPP projects, as part of the programme to provide 27 new schools across Ireland, with project partner John Sisk & Sons.  Construction will begin on site immediately, with the final schedule of works due to be completed in two years. 

The project will be financed through a combination of an Equity Bridge Loan and Senior Term Loans. The pool of lenders consists of Korea Development Bank (KDB), Bank of Ireland (BoI) and European Investment Bank, who were selected to form the final funding solution. 

Macquarie Capital acted as sole financial advisor to the Comhar consortium.