The planned redevelopment of two derelict Victorian buildings bought by Dublin City Council seven years ago for social housing has been cancelled due to the “excessive cost” of the project, which has reached €1.7 million.

The council used compulsory purchase powers to buy adjoining houses at 19 and 21 Connaught Street, Phibsborough, in 2019 for €700,000 and it has had planning permission for their reconstruction since 2023.

However, it said the “costs associated with delivering this project” have now become “excessive” and there was “not a value for money to bring this property into use as a social home”.

The redbrick houses, which back on to Bohemian FC’s Dalymount Park stadium, were added to the council’s derelict sites register in 2009 after many years of vacancy.

After the owner at the time boarded up the windows and doors, the council agreed to remove the properties from the register in 2012.

In 2016, after complaints from the public and local councillors that the condition of the empty houses had deteriorated, the council again approached the owner asking he reinstate the front door and windows and remove vegetation from the building.

Despite several site visits and letters to the owner over a two-year period, the work was not done, and in March 2018 the houses were re-entered on the register.

In November that year the council served the owner with notice of intention to acquire the buildings compulsorily

The compulsory purchase order was approved by An Bord Pleanála and came into force in April 2019. The council bought the houses for €350,000 each, hoping to have them back in use the following year after renovation work.

However, following structural surveys in 2020 and 2022 their full demolition and reconstruction, retaining only their front facades, was recommended.

In early 2023 planning permission for this work was confirmed, with the council proposing to appoint a design team and prepare a construction tender

The design team was appointed in mid-2024 and the council had scheduled work to start in December 2024, with a six-month construction programme.

However, due to the further deterioration of the buildings, including the discovery of a subsidence issue, the council last year decided to go back out to tender for the work.

In response to queries in recent days the council said the “remedial works to rectify this issue has increased the overall cost to the project substantially”.

The costs of the renovation work, at current estimates, was €1.7 million the council said. Combined with the purchase price this would put the overall cost of the project at €2.4 million or €1.2 million per social home.

This cost was “excessive”, the council said, and meant “ value for money” in using the buildings for social housing could not be achieved.

“There are currently no plans for this building,” the council said.

It said it was “exploring other options as to how to bring vacant or derelict owned properties like this back into use including selling this type of property to ensure it is reused”.

The Connaught Street houses are among more than 100 buildings, most of which are houses, listed on the council’s derelict sites register.