Nine houses open in South Kilkenny, as council aims to provide 800 in county by 2026

Nine new homes have been opened in Kilmacow as Kilkenny County Council continues to use all the mechanisms available to it under the Governments Housing For All Programme.

The council aims to deliver more than 803 new homes in Kilkenny over the period 2022 to 2026. The local authority has more than 30 sites around County Kilkenny where social and affordable housing schemes are currently in the pipeline at planning, design, tender or construction stages with delivery of new homes due each year to 2026.

Measures to encourage property owners to re-use vacant properties are being prioritised by Kilkenny County Council through the targeted use and promotion of vacant site activation measures, buy and renew and repair to lease schemes and the newly launched Croi Conaithe, Vacant Homes Refurbishment Grant Scheme.

The council says that direct provision of more than 800 homes is a challenging task, but one that it is committed to delivering.
Last week, then-Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council Pat Fitzpatrick viewed new housing units at Mullinavat and the Circular Road, Kilkenny and officially opened new developments at Kilmacow and Golf Links Road, Kilkenny. The local authority says it is important to acknowledge that not all housing delivery is large scale.

Speaking at the official opening of the nine homes at Kilmacow, Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick said the council was playing its part in providing a range of housing solutions, including the re-use of vacant brownfield sites in town centres which is critical to sustainable development.

Cllr Fitzpatrick and newly-elected Mayor Joe Malone visited the largest active Kilkenny County Council Housing construction site at Crokers Hill on the Kennyswell Road, in Kilkenny City, where 88 homes will be provided at an overall project cost of more than €35.5million. Ormonde Construction are carrying out the works.

The largest housing need in Kilkenny is in the city, with over 50% of our assessed housing need expressing a preference to live in the city. High density developments are necessary to meet that need and the development at Crokers Hill will provide much needed homes during 2024.

Speaking at the official opening of six new homes at Golf Link Road, Newpark, Mayor of Kilkenny Joe Malone welcomed the delivery of the four accessible homes for older persons in particular, and called for the provision of more similar housing homes into the future, within existing communities where possible.

The sites visited last week included energy-efficient timber frame housing at Mullinavat, age-friendly housing at Golf Links Road Kilkenny, a turnkey project in Kilmacow which repurposed a protected heritage creamery building and specific purpose disability housing in Kilkenny City.

Director of Services with Kilkenny County Council Mary Mulholland pointed out the importance of delivering smaller developments as well as large scale ones to meet the full range of identified housing need. She also referred to the high quality work being carried out by the contractors on these schemes – Quarryview Developments Ltd, Ormonde Homes Ltd, Breencore Ltd and David Flynn Construction.

“In meeting and exceeding its commitments under Housing For All, every effort will be made by Kilkenny County Council to maximise the potential of vacant properties and brown field sites and to provide energy efficient and accessible homes in every scheme,” the council said.

“Kilkenny County Council is committed to taking every possible opportunity to provide badly needed new homes for the city and county and we look forward to many more large and small scale projects over the next three years.”