The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Colm Kelleher has embarked on a journey across the city to mark the opening of 106 new homes.

His first stop was to a formerly vacant site in the Cork city suburb of Blackpool, which has been redeveloped into new housing.

Approximately 13 homes have been opened in 7-11 Gerald Griffin Street, comprising of 12 apartments and one house. These consist of four one-bed apartments, seven two-bed apartments, one three-bed apartment and one three-bed house. The project was brought to life by Cahalane Brothers.

The development will be managed by Focus Ireland who will utilise their innovative 'Meascán' (Irish for mixture) Housing Model, which creates an intentional social mix, comprising households with additional support needs and households without support needs, in an effort to foster greater social integration and cohesion.

The Lord Mayor then opened a further 16 new homes at Magdalen O'Hegarty Mews, Skehard Road. The development is named by Cork City Council's Centenary Commemoration Advisory Group in honour of Magdalen O'Hegarty, a co-founder of Cork City Cumann na mBan. It comprises 10 three-bed houses and six two-bed apartments and was built by Clancy Construction on a former vacant site developed in partnership with Lyonshall Ltd. through Cork City Council's award winning Competitive Dialogue procurement process.  

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He then went on to launch another 11 new homes at Mandeville Place, Pouladuff Road, five one-bed and six two-bed apartments on a formerly vacant site developed in partnership with Cetti Ltd., also through Cork City Council's Competitive Dialogue procurement process.

Finally, he opened a new development of 66 units at Shournagh Grove, Togher, designed by Cork City Council Architect's Department and built by Conack Construction. This development includes 24 two-bed houses, 32 three-bed houses, two four-bed houses, seven two-bed apartments and one purpose-built community centre.

The Lord Mayor said: "I'm incredibly proud today to open so many homes for the people of Cork. The delivery of homes is one of Cork City Council's key priorities and I commend all who were involved in bringing these new developments to fruition. I hope that these homes will be the start of a new and happy chapters in many people's lives and in the long term, will create sustainable and vibrant communities for those that live there."

Assistant Chief Executive of Cork City Council, Brian Geaney added: "Housing is again at the very forefront of Cork City Council's objectives and will remain so for the coming years. Despite the difficulties posed by the pandemic and supply chain challenges, our housing delivery programmes are buoyant and remain very much on track. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of all involved and assure people that the City Council will continue to lead the way in the delivery of more homes."