Shortlisted in the prestigious Residential Project of the Year – Large category at the 2021 Irish Construction Industry Awards, Arbutus Montenotte is a stunning development of 16 unique high-end homes in Cork city. This one-of-a-kind project was delivered by Mhomes – a collaboration between MC2 Accountants and Murphy New Homes. We spoke to Murphy New Homes operations director John O’Callaghan to find out more.
Based in Banteer, County Cork, Murphy New Homes is Ireland’s longest-established and largest one-off residential house builder. A third-generation family business boasting more than 60 years of construction excellence, MNH demonstrated their ability to deliver outstanding results under the most demanding circumstances when constructing the 16 magnificent residential units that comprise Arbutus Montenotte.
Located in the north east of Cork city, Arbutus Montenotte was delivered to the highest standards, on time and within budget by Mhomes, which is a joint venture between Murphy New Homes and MC2 Accountants in Penrose Wharf – the perfect alignment of construction expertise and professional finance, taxation and accountancy advice.
Built imaginatively on a challenging south-facing sloping site offering panoramic views of Cork city, from Pairc Ui Chaoimh to County Hall, the wondrous Arbutus Montenotte development took the derelict and overgrown rear garden of Arbutus Lodge and transformed it into a much sought after location within 15 minutes’ walk of the city centre through the luxury development of 16 elegantly-appointed, Georgian -inspired townhouses. Laid out over three separate terraced blocks, maximising site aspect and topography, these extravagant three-storey residences range in size from 2,041 to 2,306 square feet.
Unsurprisingly, these unique and striking family homes caught the attention of the judges at the 2021 Irish Construction Industry Awards, who duly shortlisted Arbutus Montenotte for the Residential Project of the Year – Large award. It’s quite an achievement for Mhomes to make the ICI Awards shortlist with what is effectively their maiden project.
“Mhomes was formed specifically to handle this development and is going to be active on other projects going forward,” reveals Murphy New Homes operations director John O’Callaghan. “We participated in the Irish Construction Industry Awards previously under the Murphy New Homes banner. Although we hadn’t been involved for a while, we felt that this unique project in such a historic part of Cork city warranted an entry.”
Montenotte is an affluent area in the historic north east of Cork city, which experienced an influx of wealthy traders and industrialists, giving rise to a prosperous middle-class settlement in the early-to-mid 19th century. Alongside neighbouring St. Luke’s and Tivoli, it is home to many of the finest Georgian and Victorian houses in the city.
Arbutus Lodge is one of the most famous buildings in the Montenotte area. Built for a wealthy merchant in the late 18th century, it was better known as a hotel and renowned Michelin starred restaurant during the 20th century. The Lodge has recently been reverted to its former glory as a private period dwelling house, retaining much of the original design features and characteristics of its era.
The planning and design strategy for the inspiring Arbutus Montenotte development was to transform a partial greenfield urban site into a purposeful residential amenity within walking distance of the city centre. Taking its architectural lead from local mid-to-late 19th century buildings, Arbutus Montenotte now sits seamlessly into the elevated city landscape. Quality of design rather than economic output was considered a priority first and foremost to establish this development as one of the most prestigious in Cork city.
Commencing construction during the Spring of 2019, this high-end development of three- and four-bedroom A2 rated units with several variations was completed in the summer of 2021 (this despite 20 weeks of lost construction time due to two separate public health emergency shutdowns resulting from the covid-19 pandemic) and realised an overall sales value in excess of €11.1m.
One of the defining features of the development is the sweeping slope upon which it was built. A specific challenge was how to overcome the obvious difficulties presented by the sloping nature of the site. “It’s a huge sloping site from the Lodge all the way down and we decided to work with it,” John reveals. “Six months went into the groundworks – a lot of effort and money that we will never see again went into the ground. But it was worth the investment and we were delighted with the outcome. Block One [comprising four four-bedroom homes] has three storeys front and back, while Blocks Two and Three [each with six three- and four-bedroom units] are two-storey buildings viewed from the front and three storeys when viewed from the back.”
With a front to back site level difference of over 18m, the development involved extensive excavations and installation of RC retaining walls and access roadways before the main construction could commence. Surrounding buildings also had substantial level differences with historic stone walls between them and the subject site, which necessitated specific exclusions zones for all plant and machinery. Drainage is a crucial consideration which had to be given much attention.
Not only did Arbutus Montenotte present a rare opportunity to acquire a modern, spacious home in one of Cork’s most desirable neighbourhoods, constructed to the highest build, environmental and sustainability standards and finished with grace and luxury, but how often are new homes constructed within walking distance of Cork city centre? This development really was one of a kind in many ways! “It’s quite unique to find a site like this,” John concurs. “It was a very difficult site to work with and a lot of contractors would have walked away from it, but all we saw was a unique opportunity to deliver something special. We spared no expense in building beautiful homes with brick façade and a Georgian design and it was gratifying to see the block of four fetch up to €640,000 each while the twelve rear houses were sold for €720,000 each on average.”
Externally, the yellow brick slip façade over deep plaster banding with moulded reveals to all doors, windows, parapets, chimney cappings and mid sections acknowledges Arbutus Montenotte’s historic location, while cast iron rainwater goods, railings and light standards, together with a low pitch standing seam metal roof add to the original period design inspiration. All waste pipework is concealed internally, either within the buildings themselves or the 200mm cavity structure, thus ensuring a sleek external finish, devoid of visually obtrusive elements.
Internally, plaster cornicing, moulded Georgian fire doors, matching high skirtings, architraves, and heel and corner blocks with enhanced ceiling heights all add to the overall external design concept. Concrete floors throughout all levels ensure a substantially more robust structure with enhanced fire protection whilst limiting airborne sound. The resulting dropped ceiling generated by this type of construction provided the perfect cavity for all mechanical and electrical services with access cupboards and storage areas on all floors for ease of operation and maintenance. Decoration and fit-out were completed to an exceptionally high standard to complement the period elegance of the design.
Generating steady work for a highly-skilled team of up to 150 operatives, between direct employees and subcontractors, Murphy New Homes is a family-run business passed down from generation to generation, with more than six decades’ experience. Willie Murphy is company MD and some of the current team are third-generation family members. Jim McCarthy, Managing Director of MC2 and Ruth Houlihan, Corporate Finance Director MC2, make up the balance of the Mhomes team providing crucial financing, accountancy and taxation advice throughout all projects under the collaborative banner.
Primarily focussed on one-off residential homes, MNH construct up to 80 such units per year across Cork county in general, covering everything from initial design and planning permission to construction and handover. Murphy New Homes’ multi-disciplinary team includes expertise from all areas of the construction industry – civil engineering, architectural, mechanical, electrical and quantity surveying, all inherent in their in-house team.
“One-off new builds are still a huge part of the business but we spotted an opportunity to go into developments a couple of years ago and our work is now split 50:50 between new builds and developments,” John explains. “To this end, we are currently active on a 54-unit residential development in Barters Wood, Blarney, which is due to be completed in Q1, 2022, along with other projects, either at shovel-ready contract stage or making their way through the planning process.”
With unrivalled experience and knowhow, Murphy New Homes understand implicitly the key to building homes of prestige: “Primarily it comes down to deploying a good design team and a good team of professionals covering every aspect of construction,” John concludes. “Adapting a collaborative approach is very important and we deal with clients on a one-to-one basis throughout the building process”.
“Communication is crucial. When you are building homes that average €350,000 or more, it’s vital that you create time to work with the client continuously until the key is handed over. We go through everything in great detail from door handles to the finer details of the kitchen units. We find it’s more prudent to bring them through the entire process hand-in-hand so that the client knows exactly what they are going to get upon completion”.
“We use the same subbies on all our homes – professionals who have proven that they can produce the goods and who are aware of the high standards we expect and how we operate. As a family business, we like to wherever possible look after local subcontractors, suppliers and businesses in the surrounding area. We really like to keep it local rather than looking for cheaper options further from home. Quality is paramount and so are people. We’ve provided a personal touch for more than 60 years and will continue to do so going forward.”
Murphy New Homes,
Clonmeen,
Banteer,
County Cork.
Tel: 029 56311
Email: [email protected]
Web Links: www.mgroup.ie, www.mc2accountants.ie, www.mhomes.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, February 2022, Vol 8 No 2
