Landmark Laois convent to be used for social housing

Approval has been granted to turn an Old Convent in Portarlington into housing. 

Sophia Housing  Association has been granted planning permission to build 37 homes at the site of the former Presentation Convent at Patrick Street. 

The plans were approved by Offaly County Council last month. They pave the way for the construction of 37 housing units, 40 parking spaces and 16 bicycle storage racks on the grounds of the old convent. 

An artists impression of the planned housing in Portarlington

The approval will also see the demolition of two sheds, two glasshouses and the construction of new pedestrian and vehicular access from the Bog Road. The plans were approved subject to 28 conditions. 

Sophia Housing is currently converting the former Sacred Heart Secondary School in the centre of Portlaoise into 52 unit housing development. 

According to Sophia, “the scheme brings together the Department of Housing, Laois County Council, the local parish and the Presentation Sisters utilising the former Sacred Heart Secondary School and surrounding lands.

The former convent, which is a protected structure and will be converted into three one-bedroom apartments and six two-bedroom apartments. Three new apartment blocks will be built onsite which will incorporate 23 two-bedroom apartments and 10 one-bedroom apartments along with four two-bedroom town houses.”  

“The impact of such a development on the local community will go beyond providing much needed housing. The project will create a new public park and garden in the heart of the site and access to a proposed new ‘blueway’ which will link Portlaoise town centre with a large town park,” the housing body states on its website.