Almost 500 council homes in Cork in line for energy upgrades
Picture Involves Plete The Houses Of Normally Retrofitting Insulation File
Cork County Council has unveiled an ambitious three-year programme to upgrade nearly 500 local authority homes in Co Cork to make them more energy efficient.
In total, the council is planning to upgrade 479 houses starting next year, and running until 2027, as part of plans to improve the energy efficiency of older properties.
The retrofitting normally involves complete insulation of houses, which are then fitted with efficient air-to-water heat pumps. Windows and doors are replaced where necessary and when the work is completed the houses reach a minimum B2 energy rating.
The plans were unveiled by Maurice Manning, head of the council’s housing directorate.
In 2025, the council aims to upgrade 135 local authority-owned homes, followed by 175 properties in 2026, and 169 the following year.
He said next year the council intends to make energy upgrades to 49 of its properties at Richmond Court, Bandon, and 48 homes at Maulbaun in Passage West.
Smaller numbers will be upgraded at O’Connor Park in Macroom; Beechville, Coachford; Slip Heights, Bantry; and Forest View, Mallow.
Mr Manning said that in 2026 the local authority will increase the number of retrofits being carried out to 175.
The two largest, at 35 houses each, will be at the Ard Aoibhinn estate in Cobh and the Dermot Hurley Estate in Youghal.
In addition, work on smaller numbers of units will be undertaken at Moylan Park, Kiskeam; O’Neill-Crowley Place, Mitchelstown; Dr Patrick O’Sullivan Place in Aghada; Castledon, Bandon; Cluain Ard, Fermoy; and the Waterpark estate in Carrigaline.
For 2027 the energy-retrofitting programme will involve upgrades to 169 properties, with the largest number being 65 at Deerpark, Bandon, and 34 at Chestnut Drive, Youghal.
In addition, plans are in place to upgrade houses at Captain Keane’s Grove, Mitchelstown; Woodview Drive, Mallow; parts of Edmund Rice Close and Drive in Cobh; and parts of the Mount Rivers Estate in Carrigaline.
Mr Manning said this year the council will complete 203 energy-efficiency upgrades to occupied houses and ‘voids’, which are currently untenanted and in some cases in need of significant overall. The cost of those energy-efficiency upgrades is €7,342,500.
He said the majority of these have already been completed. Contractors are continuing to work on a few others and in one case a tender is being assessed for work at Pat O’Brien Close in Cobh.
Mr Manning has not yet revealed the cost of the 2025-2027 retrofit programme, which will be subject to funding being sanctioned by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
However, the average cost of the 203 upgrades being carried out this year is €36,170 per house. This would equate to €17,325,430 for the 479 houses the council plans to tackle from 2025 to 2027.