Work ongoing to deal with heating issues in Mayfield estate

CORK City Council has said work is ongoing to address long-standing heating issues at a council-owned housing estate in Mayfield but that funding will be needed from central Government to conduct the necessary full upgrades.

Dunard estate consists of 51 properties — 50 of which are in the ownership of the council — which until recently were all served by a ring main district heating system.

Last December, Cork City Council told The Echo it had engaged a contractor in a bid to resolve residents’ issues, but problems have persisted since then.

Ahead of a full meeting of Cork City Council earlier this week, Sinn Féin councillor Mick Nugent requested a report on the recent issues with the heating system and the efforts to remedy the situation.

In his report to councillors, the city council’s director of housing, Niall Ó Donnabháin explained that the heating supply system has developed minor leaks in the district heating loop system.

“The original pipes have degraded over time,” he said.

“A certain level of this is normal and common in single domestic heating systems and has little effect, however when we consider the scale of this heating loop and the age of the system the problem is intensified and has caused the heating system to become clogged and no longer provide the heat output required.

“An additional complication of the system is that should a repair be required in the boiler house, a knock-on effect can be experienced throughout the full estate.”

Mr Ó Donnabháin said over the past number of years there has been an increase in the number of repair calls logged for this estate.

“In order to address ongoing issues, to properties where the provision of heating has effectively failed, we have installed individual gas heating systems, approximately 15% of properties.

“All urgent cases have and are being addressed,” he stated.

However, Mr Ó Donnabháin said the housing directorate has insufficient funds at present “for the wholesale upgrades”.

“A mains gas supply is available to the front of the properties making the installation of individual metered gas boilers a practical solution for the remainder of the properties.

“Housing would not have the current budgetary provision for the necessary wholesale upgrades but is currently looking at a business case to make available capital funding for same and we would hope that over the duration of 2022, a large portion of the properties will receive the necessary heating upgrades.”