Housing association shows way forward

THE largest residential housing development to be finished in Ireland this year was officially opened in Dublin 15 last week.

The

?¬53 million Avondale Park housing co-operative in Mulhuddart was developed by NABCO housing association in partnership with Fingal County Council and the Department of Environment Community and Local Government.

Avondale Park has 240 homes and has already been partly occupied by families from the local housing waiting list, including Emmanuel and Esther Ugobere and their four children, Justus, Miracle, Marvellous and Grace.

“We’re very happy here, it’s a brilliant area, I love it,

? said mum Esther.

“We registered with Fingal County Council in 2005 and we’re 11 months here now. We’ve been in Ireland for 11 years now and I really do love it and this area is perfect for us.

?

The development includes a number of energy efficiency measures including Ireland’s largest privately constructed array solar panels. The 156 panels are equivalent in size to about 1.5 tennis courts.

Families living in Avondale Park will also be able to make use of a local childcare and community service.

Avondale Park was officially opened by leaders from the global housing co-operative movement, including Canadian Nicholas Gazzard, vice-president of the International Co-operative Alliance.

“Co-operative housing provides homes for 20 million families around the world,

? he said.

“The global co-operative movement is watching with pride the advances that NABCO is making for our sector in Ireland.

?

President for Co-operative Housing with the European Housing Federation (CECODHAS), Marten Lilja, praised the new development for its environmental features.

“The impressive quality we have seen at Avondale Park today sets new standards for co-operative housing in Ireland,

? he said.

NABCO chief executive Niall O’Keeffe said the key for housing co-operatives to provide new homes was their ability to raise private finance and work with social finance providers.

“We have become extremely innovative in coming up with real solutions for the Government in helping to solve the current housing crisis as well as completing and managing unfinished estates countrywide,

? he said.

“For us, housing always has to be provided alongside community development and today we are learning about new practices from the global co-operative movement.

“In terms of world best practice for future building we are adopting the Canadian 2020 Standard, which is the gold standard of co-operative governance internationally.

“We’re also looking to international co-operatives to see how they approach the areas that we plan to expand into – housing for older people, waste management, renewable energy etc.

?

NABCO and other housing associations are in discussions with NAMA about co-operative solutions to a number of unfinished housing schemes. If agreements can be reached the approach has the potential to create hundreds of construction jobs and provide much needed social housing.

NABCO says it is also providing a co-operative option to a number of unsold affordable local authority housing estates, which could add to their current stock of 1,800 homes in nine local authority areas.

Earlier this year NABCO announced a e20 million investment for the next 18 months for over 300 new homes in a number of separate developments.

There are almost 10 million co-operative houses in the EU.