Apartment Living: Residents of local authority flats have been used to high-rise living for decades. Edel Morgan reports
Ireland may be in its infancy when it comes to apartment living compared to other European countries - but if we have any aficionados amongst us, it is local authority flat dwellers .
This community, which has the longest history of high-rise living in the capital, this week celebrated the €2 million makeover of yet another one of the older complexes, Islandbridge Court in Dublin 8.
It has been refurbished by Dublin City Council, making it a safer and more pleasant place to live.
Located on the South Circular Road close to the War Memorial Gardens, the scheme of 68 apartments was built in the 1960s. Prior to the improvement works, residents were feeling increasingly over-exposed to the seamier side of city life.
Many of these older complexes were built at a time when crime was less prevalent and according to Enda Coughlan, Senior Housing officer of Dublin City Council, were mostly open-plan with little or no security or boundary fences to protect residents.
In recent years, this has left the complexes prey to various forms of antisocial behaviour and with little defence against drug dealers or vandals who wanted to enter the complex.
Islandbridge Court is now a securityconscious zone. Access is via electronic gates and all residents have been issued with key codes and zappers.
Improvement works were carried out in consultation with the residents' association, and included a new modern and safe playground, newly-paved courtyard areas with landscaped areas and raised planted areas, and the installation of boundary fencing and upgraded public lighting.
A CCTV system provides an extra layer of security for residents.
The improvement works are part of a wider programme of regeneration in the area. Islandbridge Court is only one of a number of local authority blocks in the city that has undergone - or is in the process of undergoing - upgrading.
Sarah Place, across the river from Islandbridge Court, was given a whole new perspective when a wall which once blocked its view of the river was removed.
Tyrone Place, adjacent to St Michael's Estate in Inchicore, and Bernard Curtis House in Bluebell are nearing completion and are expected to have their official launches in the New Year. (However, Dublin City Council has abandoned plans to redevelop St Michael's Estate itself because of a lack of money, and is to sell off the 11-acre site to private developers.)
Another scheme completed a few years ago off North King Street in Dublin's north city centre has been hailed a success.
"The feedback has been quite positive and it's obvious the residents take great pride in living there" says Enda Coughlan.
A lot of people think that Irish families will never adapt to European-style apartment-living. But local authority tenants have been adapting to apartment living for over four decades - and in their new refurbished comlexes, may show the way forward for the rest of us.
