Revamped for social housing and finally available to rent two months after official opening

5 and 6 Shandon St which have been restored by Cork City Council as part of a housing regeneration project.

Protected buildings which were restored as part of a near €3m social housing project are finally being offered to tenants more than two months since their official opening.

Cork City Council faced criticism this week for allowing the scheme on Shandon Street to remain vacant since a plaque unveiling ceremony in early June.

But while the scheme was officially opened by the outgoing Lord Mayor on June 10, the development had to undergo a number of inspections before the homes could be offered to prospective tenants, the council admitted.

Gone live

A spokesman confirmed that two of the buildings have gone ‘live’ on the council’s online letting system this week, and that the selection process for tenants for the other homes is also underway.

“The protected 18-century buildings on Shandon Street have recently returned as ‘ready to let’, following inspections, utility connections,” the council said in a statement.

“Two of the new homes are featured on our Choice Based Letting (CBL) system this week and the successful applicants will be selected once the bid week ends.

“The remaining four homes are suitable for clients with medical needs and will be allocated outside of the CBL process and the selection process for these clients has already begun.” 

The scheme includes five one-bedroom and four two-bedroom apartments and is aimed in particular at housing older persons who can downsize.

They were among 64 new units which were officially opened on June 10 last.

The two near 300-year-old properties at numbers five and six Shandon Street are among the few remaining Dutch gabled buildings in the city. Both are protected structures and both are owned by the council.

Before renovation: No 5 and 6 Shandon St when they were in a sorry state.

They had fallen into disrepair and been vacant for over a decade until the local authority embarked on a social housing scheme, which was funded by the Department of Local Government.

The scheme involved the restoration of numbers five and six, with two adjoining similar but smaller houses to the rear, facing John Philpott Curran St, which are not protected, as well as the construction of an infill residential development on a vacant site at the junction of John Philpott Curran Street and Cathedral Avenue.

The inclusion and restoration of the Dutch-influenced homes as part of the wider project was hailed by An Taisce as “a boost for the heritage, well-being and economic attractiveness of the city”.

In his report on the historic buildings in 2014, the city’s conservation officer, Pat Ruane, said the survival of the three gable-fronted houses, numbers four, five and six, which turn the corner into another pair of similar but smaller houses, “is unparalleled in this country”.

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage described five and six as “a fascinating reminder of an architectural design that was fashionable in the 18th century”.