Those ghost estates of the early 2010s

12-04-2023 7:09pm #1

Was it a big mistake to bulldoze them ?

astrofool · 12-04-2023 7:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058292123/those-ghost-estates-of-the-early-2010s

A lot would probably have needed knocked anyway if left exposed and unfinished, those that weren't are likely being used as emergency housing or caught up in legal or planning issues.

But yes, we overreacted to the property crash and are paying for it now (mainly by driving developers and tradesmen away).

Also the pity that building control effectively wasn't there so there's a lot of shoddy builds.

dontmindme · 12-04-2023 7:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120470549#Comment_120470549

But yes, we overreacted to the property crash and are paying for it now

How did we? We inflated the value of all that property on NAMA's books and everyone benefitted, no?

astrofool · 12-04-2023 7:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120470579#Comment_120470579

mainly by driving developers and tradesmen away

L1011 · 12-04-2023 7:29pm

Pretty much no inhabitable houses were bulldozed. Most weren't even vaguely close to finished, and those that appeared finished and were knocked were severely dangerous.

Remember how shoddy building standards had got in a lot of places with self-certification? Priory Hall, Longboat Quay, etc etc. It was future ones of those that were knocked.

Some that were knocked were probably inhabitable before being robbed of metals; but that happened before the state had any potential responsibility (via NAMA) in many cases.

Larbre34 · 12-04-2023 10:00pm

Nothing that wasn't beyond saving was bulldozed.

For the rest, it was the cheapest and safest thing in the long run.

elperello · 12-04-2023 10:15pm

There are still a few around that nobody ever got around to either knocking or finishing.

hoodie6029 · 12-04-2023 11:16pm

Frank O’Connor regularly tweets a video of ghost estate in Cork City. Completely finished and sitting there for close to 20 years.

Self certification was nuts. Up to 1988 you had to be inspected at regular intervals. After that til 2011 the architect was essentially saying a house was safe and compliant by looking at a plastered wall.

BattleCorp · 13-04-2023 8:17am

There were two ghost estates in my town. One was abandoned for the best part of 10 years but about 5 years they started on it again and it's finished now. Nice estate.

There's another estate up the road from it and it's at a standstill for the past 10 years. Shennanigans about houses being built too close together etc have stopped it progressing.

Floppybits · 13-04-2023 11:52am

Seen a few housing estates that were stopped during the crash and have all now been finished.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471360#Comment_120471360

Is self certification still allowed or did they change that? Was it even staring at a wall, thought it was all in the plans and then the builder saying "yep the plans were followed, so it's grand". Madness either way

griffin100 · 13-04-2023 7:27pm

There are still a few about.

https://www.buzz.ie/news/irish-news/ghost-estate-glendale-estate-carlow-29413062.amp

There’s also a small development of large ‘eco friendly’ houses in Hollyfort in Wexford that were built when I lived there 15 years ago. The houses are finished to a really high standard but have been rotting away behind hoarding for years. No idea who owns them or what will happen to the site.

roosterman71 · 21-04-2023 9:15pm

Near me there was a ghost estate. Had permissin for 127 houses, creche, nursing home, etc. 27 houses were built and 4 had been sold. Rest lay idle for years. Most were gutted by copper hunters over the years and left in shite. Then someone rented the remaining part of the estate for cattle and horses to rough graze. They moved in to a lot of the houses for shelter.

Now, all 27 houses are occupied and the last few were selling for 300k a pop, after the site + 23 built but ruined houses was bought in 2015 for 280k all in. The 23 sold houses since then were patched up. Workmen worked for a house. When all 23 houses were done, the lads were given a house.

Now, the work done on these houses is looking a bit shoddy. Stains appearing through the paint as damp/**** was painted over. Carpet was replaced in one and dried cowshit still under the carpet where it was just put down over what was there. Water pipes put down just under the ground freeze during frost. Etc etc

To conclude, place is a shambles

mikemac2 · 22-04-2023 1:39pm

There was Section 21 (maybe Section 23 don't remember ) housing built in our little village. 20 or so tiny houses crammed on a small site and offered at 250k each. At the height of the Celtic Tiger they were not worth that much.

Nothing has been done with them. They could have been given to the Local Authority but that didn't happen. Maybe council tenants don't want to live in a village with no jobs and a car is mandatory. Possibly could have been used for refugees but it's a bit late for that now as they would need work.

The houses are derelict and busted open and teenagers use them for drinking and smoking n´such

These are not just concrete blocks. The windows and doors and roofs were installed and from the outside they look very near finished and ready to move in, what a waste

kirk. · 23-04-2023 4:42pm

Are squatters not taking over these places ?

I would have thought they'd be a magnet for homeless

LambshankRedemption · 26-04-2023 10:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120511758#Comment_120511758

They were often built in places where no-one really wanted to live, and so there were no homeless nearby.

There was one in my village which now, thank god, has been finished, but there are still a few empty units. This is a small village 20-ish miles from the nearest city, so not a target for a homeless person.

twin_beacon · 27-04-2023 4:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471360#Comment_120471360

I thought the issue with that estate was that it was built without planning permission?

Any Ghost Estate that was knocked was because it was built in the wrong area. More need to be knocked imo, a few come to mind that had a few houses water tight on the first phase of the estate, then the crash came. The houses have been raided, all the copper gone. Its a miracle that nobody has set them on fire.

jam__sandwich · 27-04-2023 4:33pm

most of these estates were in the middle of nowhere no facilities and nowhere near family and friends

hoodie6029 · 27-04-2023 5:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120528407#Comment_120528407

Yep, some issue with the planning alright. Realistically, a fully completed estate is never going to be knocked so regardless of what wrongdoing went on 15 years ago, the Council and whoever owns them now should be able to come to some arrangement to get them occupied.

Kiteview · 28-04-2023 1:08am

I do wonder about this because when I travel through Sandyford Industrial Estate, there is a large half-finished apartment block sitting idle for over a decade.

It’s less than five minutes walk from a LUAS stop also, so should be an obvious place to either complete or knock down and rebuild from scratch.

Yet nothing is happening with it while people claim we have a housing crisis…