An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, An Tánaiste, Mr Simon Coveney & Mr Eoghan Murphy, Minister for Housing, Planning & Local Government were in Cork on Saturday to turn the sod at the official launch of the Affordable Housing Scheme at Boherboy Road, Lotamore, Mayfield, Cork.
The €40 million value project on a 13-acre (5.13 hectare) site, assembled and being made available by Cork City Council, is the first affordable purchase housing scheme in the country. A total of 153 homes are to be constructed at the Mayfield site immediately. 116 energy efficient affordable homes are being made available at affordable prices: 24 two bedroom homes and 92 three bedroom units as well as a creche and ancillary site / landscaping works. In addition, a portion of the site is being made available to a housing asssociation to build and manage 37 appartments for social tenure requirements.
Lord Mayor, Cllr John Sheehan said: “One of the many housing issues that needs addressing is to enable people to start their own homes and families locally, and near their communities. Homes were much easier to purchase in the past, and therefore, I am delighted to see this great initiative taken by the Council and that these affordable homes, designed by leading Architects, O ‘Mahony Pike and built by Lyonshall / Clancy Joint Venture, will shortly be available to eligible individuals and young families”.
Director of Housing, Brian Geaney said: “The two critical ingredients here are the City Council supporting this scheme by assembling the lands and providing them at cost for the project and the Government providing a substantial Site Services Grant under its Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing. These homes are in addition to our wider housing delivery programme in Cork City which we have ramped up to a stage where we have more than 1000 social and affordable homes under construction and more at various stages of planning.’’
This is the first Affordable Housing Purchase project in the State to be funded under the Serviced Sites Fund. This scheme is approved to receive a €4.968 million Serviced Sites grant operated by the Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government. This grant will fund the servicing of the site and infrastructural upgrades to the nearby road network and local drainage services which in turn will assist the affordability and viability of the homes.
Emmaville Limited, a joint venture between Clancy Construction & Lyonshall Limited, is the residential developer for the Boherboy Road Scheme. A public procurement competition sought tenders for technical proposals from competent bidders to develop the infrastructure, dwellings and crèche on Council owned lands to be sold to the market at affordable prices.
