Pictured at the contract signing for the construction of the Greally Park social housing development in Athlone were (L-R, standing) Mark Keaveney, Director of Services; Therese O’Halloran, Project Architect, Paul Hogan, Senior Architect, and Michael Gaffney, Clerk of Works, (all Westmeath County Council staff) and (L-R, seated) Peter O'Connell, OCC Construction, Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, Cathaoirleach, Westmeath County Council, and Pat Gallagher, Chief Executive, Westmeath County Council.

Construction to start on 24-unit social housing scheme in Athlone

Adrian Cusack

Published: Thu 15 Jun 2023, 5:29 PM

Last updated: Thu 15 Jun 2023, 5:52 PM

Construction work on a 24-unit social housing development in Arcadia, Athlone, is due to start in July, after a contract for the project was signed this week.

The development will consist of one and two-bedroom units including ten two-bedroom houses, a single one-bedroom house, and thirteen one and two-bed apartments.

It will be named Greally Park after Hanna Greally, the late Athlone native who wrote Bird's Nest Soup, a memorable book about her experience of being incarcerated in St Loman's psychiatric hospital in Mullingar.

Greally Park will be located adjacent to 33-unit Esker Park social housing project which was completed in Arcadia in 2020.

The contractor chosen to build the development is Galway-based OCC Construction. Peter O'Connell of OCC Construction signed a contract for the project with Westmeath County Council in the council chamber in Mullingar on Tuesday of this week.

"The houses and public open space face onto the Arcadia Road, with the new apartment building enclosing the northeast corner of the site, creating a private amenity courtyard space and allowing for a southern aspect for the apartment units," the council stated.

All of the homes in Greally Park are designed to be highly energy efficient and use the latest air-to-water heating technology. Each home includes a wet room at ground floor level, suitable for assisted showering.

A design image showing the planned layout of Greally Park.

The housing units will also be fitted with photo voltaic panels (solar panels), providing harvested energy from the sun to help meet the electrical demands of the home.

Westmeath County Council’s in-house architectural team designed the Greally Park scheme with the assistance of Jennings O’Donovan Consulting Engineers, CuddyQS Chartered Quantity Surveyors and Hayes Higgins Partnership, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers.