Fewer people will be housed in the Oliver Bond House flat complex in Dublin’s southwest inner city under new Department of Housing proposals for its redevelopment, it has emerged.
The department has halted the first phase of Dublin City Council’s regeneration of the dilapidated complex of almost 400 flats due to the council’s planned reduction in the housing numbers.
The council had planned a “deep retrofit” and amalgamation programme where existing flats, which do not meet size standards, would be combined to make a smaller number of larger homes.
In 2023 it secured approval from the department to design the first phase, for the amalgamation of 74 old flats to create 46 new ones. However, on April 27th the department told the council it could no longer support “such a large reduction of homes during a housing crisis”.
The department has instead proposed the 90-year-old complex be “upgraded” retaining the existing structure but reducing the number of bed spaces in flats to meet minimum size standards.
