Fit-out of Granary building nearing completion for national HAP Shared Services Centre

  • HAP Shared Services Centre
Picture: Brian Gavin Press 22

More staff will be employed as service expands

Redevelopment work on two floors of the Granary Building in Michael Street in Limerick city is nearly complete for occupancy by the HAP Shared Services Centre.

The office fit-out being carried out on behalf of Limerick City and County Council by Flynn Management and Contracting Limited will be able to cater for additional staff of up to 100 people as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme expands.

Limerick City and County Council operates the HAP Shared Services Centre on behalf of all 31 local authorities across the country as well as the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive.

The service is fully funded by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government.

There are currently 42 people employed in the HAP SSC and this is scheduled to rise to around 100 as the project matures.  Sixty per cent of the current staff have been recruited from the private sector with the remainder from local authorities, primarily Limerick City and County Council.

HAP Shared Services Centre - staff photo
Staff at the HAP Shared Services Centre. Picture: Brian Gavin Press 22

HAP Shared Services Centre will handle around €230 million in financial transactions in 2017, rising to over €600 million per annum by 2021, involving at that stage, 84,000 tenancies across the country.

Staff in the Shared Services Centre carry out a range of functions on behalf all landlords and tenants in HAP nationwide, including daily liaison with HAP landlords and tenants, and with our local authority clients; set-up and commencement of HAP tenancies; payment of monthly landlord rent; tax clearance checking for landlords; collection of tenant differential rent debit for all tenancies; management of the debt collection process; monitoring, reviewing and maintenance of HAP tenancies and data analytics for stakeholders.

Eoghan Prendergast, Director of Services for the HAP Shared Services Centre said: “Since it first started as a pilot project in Limerick in 2014, the volume of financial transactions that we manage in the HAP Shared Services Centre has grown enormously. We managed just over €600,000 in 2014, rising to €100 million in 2016, and this year we will manage over €230 million. This figure will rise to over €600 million per annum in 2021.”

“As well as being entrusted with the management of a considerable portion of the Government’s social housing budget, we are very conscious that currently almost 21,000 families and individuals rely on the HAP SSC staff in The Granary to ensure HAP runs efficiently and effectively. It is directly because of the high calibre of staff that we have in The Granary that we have met or exceeded all our targets to date as the programme grows. The current number of 42 staff will rise to 100 as HAP matures over the next few years.”

“We are very pleased that the project is based in such a beautiful two-hundred-year-old building as The Granary, in the heart of Limerick City, and the redevelopment will be capable of accommodating 100 staff when completed. It is very good news for Limerick that this 100-job project was secured by Limerick City and County Council and that it has such a key role in a very important Government programme.”

The architectural design service for the Office Fit Out is being provided by MCORM Ltd (McCrossan O'Rourke Manning Architects) with the rest of design team services being provided by:

  • Scollard Doyle Quantity Surveyors
  • Homan O'Brien Associates Mechanical & Electrical Engineers
  • PUNCH Consulting Structural and Health & Safety Engineers
  • The consultant Project Manager services are being provided by AECOM
  • The contractor for the Works Contract is Flynn Management & Contracting Ltd

All works are due to be completed by June.

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