Upcycling Trust
Upcycling Trust is an Interreg North West Europe (NWE) project tackling Europe’s dual crises of energy-inefficient housing and affordability. Its mission is to devise a replicable European model (including legal, financial and technical considerations) where climate action and housing justice reinforce one another to contribute towards the creation of a fair, sustainable and climate-resilient housing future through examination and application of the Community Land Trust (CLT) ownership model (which was legally recognised in Ireland by the Affordable Housing Act 2021).
The project's dual focus combines deep, circular renovation of substandard homes to deliver high-performance energy upgrades along with supporting vulnerable households by providing debt-free renovation pathways that secure long-term affordability and prevent speculation and displacement.
Cork City Council's project focus is on using this twin-track thinking as an opportunity to inform a new and environmentally-conscious means of transforming vacant and derelict social rental units ('voids') into not only comfortably habitable but permanently affordable homes. This is based on a modified cost-rental approach specifically targeting lower-middle income households currently underserved by existing housing solutions. As part of the process of being the first Irish local authority to examine a CLT model, Cork will learn from pilots actions to be delivered in Brussels, Lille, Rennes and Ghent.
At the local level, this supports the Cork City Development Plan 2022–2028 by enabling much-needed housing growth, improving tenure mix, tackling vacancy, and enhancing communities through circular retrofitting. Additionally, this will advance Ireland’s government housing plan (Delivering Homes, Building Communities, 2025–2030) by addressing city centre vacancy rates and supporting affordable rental delivery as well as responding to various recommendations of the national Housing Commission and contributing to the forthcoming National Building Renovation Plan (end‑2026) under the EU Building Performance Directive.
The project is running from December 2023 – November 2028 and is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with a contribution of €3,123,919.
Our partners on this project are:
Ville de Lille • CLT Brussels • CLT Ghent • Métropole Européenne de Lille • Housing Habitat2030 • Rennes Métropole • SOA Research • Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
To explore this project further visit the Upcycling Trust website.