Everything’s coming up contemporary

DEVOTEES of contemporary house design usually have to build their own one-off homes. Now, though, a niche woodland scheme near Cork city offers modern ready-mades.

Nineteen detached four-bed homes in the mature tree setting at Woodville House in Glanmire in Cork make this development stand out from the norm.

The houses will have features like glazed corner walls with exposed C-section steel beams, treated cedar cladding, ‘standing seam’ zinc roofs, and very careful site selection for aspect, orientation and privacy.

The contemporary design of the 1,400 to over 2,000 sq ft homes is by Wilson Associates Architects, who also did an updated design for courtyard terraced homes by the period 1800s country house Woodville.

Rossdale Developments, associated with engineer Dan Mulvihill, is appointing contractors for the Woodville development, which will have 53 units in all in the first phase, with further development potential in on the grounds and avenue.

Wilson Associates opted for a contemporary route in both the detached homes and courtyard, while a separate collection of 19 homes called the Orchard was designed by another highly regarded firm, Roderick Hogan Associates.

These more traditionally styled townhouses range in size from 775 to 1,128 sq ft, and prices with appointed selling agents Hamilton Osborne King are from €265,000 to €320,000 for the larger townhouses.

The first three detached houses now being released average 1,450 sq ft and prices are €420,000 to €440,000, depending on sites, and larger homes will be offered later, says Peter Cave of HOK.

“The market is ready now for more individual designs such as these. There’s an appetite for strong modern design and we expect them to sell very well,” he says.

Location is a short distance from Glanmire village, near the back of Dunkathel House, bought last year for €25 million and where developers O’Flynn Construction are in the planning process for a large scheme of over 600 houses and courtyard development with McDonagh Lane and Dennehy and Dennehy architects.

O’Flynn’s have also acquired a further 75 acres of zoned lands for €31 million at nearby Ballinglanna, Glanmire.