Residents concerned €11m retrofitting of Cork estates may not go ahead

Social housing tenants in two run-down estates on Cork’s northside say they are concerned that a planned €11m retrofitting programme will not happen, after tenders came back “well above” Cork City Council’s estimates.

Last October, council tenants in Mayfield’s Glenamoy Lawn and Árd Bhaile, which consist of 262 homes, voted to accept a council plan to upgrade their homes to a B2 or higher level of energy efficiency.

Those works would involve energy efficiency upgrades including the installation of air-to-water heat pumps, triple-glazed windows, and improved ventilation and insulation.

At the time, a council spokesperson said it was “progressing preparatory work for major upgrades to the Glenamoy Lawn and Árd Bhaile estates under the Energy Efficiency Upgrade Programme Phase 2, which is funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage”.

They added that the programme aimed “to bring all of the existing social housing stock to a B2, or higher, energy efficiency standard”.

According to the council’s figures, the first phase would have seen 36 homes upgraded, with an average budget of €34,000 per apartment, and a maximum of €42,350.

That would amount to a maximum cost of more than €1.5m.

Using the same figures, bringing the remaining 226 homes up to B2 would have cost a maximum of €9.6m, meaning the entire project would have cost more than €11m.

Higher tenders

However, at a recent local area committee meeting, councillors were told tenders for the initial works had come back higher than the council had expected.

“As the tendered sums are well above the amounts that are available through department grants, Cork City Council is considering how the shortfall might be addressed,” councillors were told.

Heating at the six-decade-old social housing project has been controversial since the council replaced an air-to-water heating system a decade ago, saying the old system cost more than €200,000 a year to maintain.

An air-to-air system cost a total of €4m, of which Cork City Council paid €800,000, but tenants described it as both extremely expensive to use and “completely useless”.

Now locals are questioning whether the retrofitting will go ahead.

Keeping warm under blankets 

Workers’ Party councillor Jerrica Struthers said: “Residents are getting on to me every single day asking if the council is actually going ahead with this retrofitting.

“With the clocks going back, the long, dark winter nights are hitting us.

“People are telling me they will end up going to bed early just to try and keep warm under the blankets.”

A council spokesperson said it remained committed to the energy efficiency retrofit in Glenamoy and Árd Bhaile.

“Financial details in relation to all procurement processes are commercially sensitive and Cork City Council does not comment on such matters,” they said.

In a related issue, there have been persistent problems with rodent infestation in the two estates, exacerbated by illegal dumping in overgrown green spaces.

Tenants have also claimed the old disused air-to-water heating system’s boiler room pipes and tunnels were “a superhighway for rats”.

The council said both boiler houses had now been cleared and “substantial works” were ongoing.