Peter McVerry Trust, the national housing and homeless charity, turned the sod on a new-build social housing scheme on Monday 18 December. The charity is building six social housing units and a community building on a site at Coldwinters in Fingal, Co. Dublin.

Speaking at a ‘turning the sod’ ceremony on site Pat Doyle CEO of Peter McVerry Trust said: “This is Peter McVerry Trust’s first new-build social housing scheme, up until now we have focused on acquisitions and the reuse of derelict buildings so this is an important milestone for us as a housing provider.”

“This scheme will consist of six units and a community building and will cost €1.4 million to deliver. The new tenants will have access to both visiting and on-site supports from Peter McVerry Trust staff and the community building will provide residents with a central site to socialise.”

More Small Scale Developments

Mr Doyle said the charity wanted to deliver lots of small-scale building projects to help meet the housing needs of those experiencing homelessness. “This scale is perfect for Peter McVerry Trust because what we want to deliver, and are planning to develop, are lots of small-scale social housing schemes.”

“That means that we can develop small schemes across multiple communities and avoid larger concentrations of people in social housing, particularly people who have a long or complex history of homelessness.”

“This new build scheme will be the first of many new build projects that we will commence in the next 12 months, and demonstrates our commitment to delivering a Housing First approach to homelessness.”

The project was designed by architects Fitzgerald Kavanagh and Partners and is supported by Fingal County Council and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.