'˜Much needed' Cookstown social homes almost finished

A total of 58 new homes have been built on the Burn Road site close to South West College and Cookstown Library.

The development includes a mixture of both houses and apartments, with a number of homes having already been handed over.

A spokeswoman for Fold Housing Association, who are behind the development, said: “There have been 22 homes handed over to date to tenants at Fold Housing Associations’ Burndale development. The remaining 36 new properties are due to complete between August and October.”

Work began onsite back in December 2014, with local company, Donaghmore Construction Ltd from Coalisland, undertaking the building work.

Managing director, Mark Currie, said they were delighted to be working alongside Fold to deliver “58 much-needed social housing units in Cookstown”.

He told the Mail the completed scheme would include 27 apartments and 31 houses (both semi-detached and terraced), with “one, two and three-bedroom state-of- the-art accommodation for singles and families”.

“These homes will create a new shared neighbourhood and breathe new life into the site of the former Dainty Fit factory, which had fallen into disrepair in recent years,” he said.

UUP councillor and chair of Mid Ulster Council, Trevor Wilson, said Fold Housing Association was to be congratulated on the development.

He told the Mail: “It’s very much welcomed in Cookstown. We needed it and we thank Fold Housing Association for having the foresight to develop in that area. It had been derelict for quite some time, so to bring it back into use is wonderful.”

Although a few windows were recently broken in some of the unfinished properties, a spokeswoman from Fold Housing Association said it was a one-off and that it had been reported to police.