'The houses are stunning' - Knocknaheeny residents feel regenerated by home move

The scheme committed to moving neighbours together in the tight-knit community

Neighbours Tom and Helen Jones, Ursula and Katie Morey, Julia Foley , Paula Keating , Kayla Green, Mary O'Mahony and Norma Kenny, with Thomas Gould, TD; cllr Mick Nugent and Tony Fitzgerald at their new houses on Harbour View Road. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

As soon as Norma Kenny opened the door to her new house in Knocknaheeny’s regeneration scheme in Cork city, “it felt like home". 

Her daughter Eva said that she had to pause for a moment, overwhelmed with emotion, before leaving their old house around the corner which is now due to be knocked and rebuilt.

“It’s a bit surreal,” Eva said as she looked at her pristine new home. “We lived there for 36 years. You’re leaving memories there, all the chats in the bedrooms, memories stuck into the walls. But it’s great to be here now.”

The Kennys are one of 16 families who got keys to brand new homes this week as part of a major regeneration scheme first agreed in 2011.

Norma Kenny inside her new house, with daughter Eva Kenny and granddaughter Julia Foley on Harbour View Road. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The €10m housing project contains 32 three-bed houses and 15 apartments, all with A2 BER rating.

The wider scheme will see 450 houses demolished and 650 state-of-the-art new units built, with a total cost in excess of €100m.

The scheme committed to move neighbours together in the tight-knit community, so that families would be living back next door or across the road from the neighbours they had had for decades.

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould said keeping communities together has been a vital lesson learned from the first phase of the development when some families moved away from Knocknaheeny due to a lack of houses and subsequently missed their old community.

But now, the scheme runs in phases so that as new houses are built, people move in, then their old houses are demolished and rebuilt for their neighbours.

But he said that process would be sped up by two years if authority for the development was decentralised to Cork City Council. 

“The officials in Cork City Council are very good and capable. They know their job,” he said.

But the process is slowed down with red tape. It would speed this process up by a couple of years if the council was given more autonomy and did not need to submit everything to the Department of Housing for approval. 

"The council is audited every year anyway so it’s not that the work wouldn’t be checked.” 

He said that some homes in the area will not be rebuilt for seven or eight years and every year counts for elderly residents.

Fianna Fáil local councillor Tony Fitzgerald, who has campaigned for the regeneration project for 20 years, said that it was a great day for the community.

“It’s a multimillion-euro investment in homes for the people and it’s all about the people - their health and wellbeing,” he said.

“People on Harbour View Road are delighted that their friends and neighbours are moving in. They’re top-quality homes and they’re near all the local amenities and social services. So it’s not just about providing the homes but also the facilities for the local community. And to give people a sense of ownership.” 

Sinn Féin Councillor Mick Nugent said that providing green spaces for people within the regeneration scheme was vital for the future.

“Every housing development should be about both maintaining and building communities," he said. "The houses are very well built and they have a nice pocket park. That’s the format going forward, that new housing estates should have green areas as well. A broader point for me in regeneration is not just about knocking and building houses, it’s about creating green areas, I’m still pushing for the North West Regional Park on Kilmore Rd.”

Neighbours Paula Keating (left) and Norma Kenny at their new houses on Harbour View Road. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Neighbours Rose Hornibrook and Katie O’Sullivan, who moved into their new houses a few weeks ago, chatted over their garden fence, waiting to welcome their former neighbours and old friends to the new estate.

“I’m in love,” Rose said as she gave a tour of her immaculate, bright and spacious new home.

“I was so excited that I planted flowers in the garden months before I moved in. People knew which house was mine from all the flowers. I was waiting for this house for seven years but it was worth the wait.” 

Across the road, Mary Bishop was turning the key in her brand new home for the first time.

“It’s just fab,” she said. “The houses are stunning.

“When I first moved into my last home in Glandore Park on August 22, 1974, I thought it was Buckingham Palace. But over the years it grew damp and it had no insulation. But these new houses are built so well they’ll last for years.

“It’s so lovely that the Council kept us all together, the neighbours I had for 46 years will still be around me here. As they used to say in Cork, ‘we’re all back together like Brown’s cows.’”