The DIY SOS: The Bigger Build team has already changed lives through ambitious rebuilds, and they're back at it again for a very special Christmas episode.
The popular series presented by Baz Ashmawy will return to RTÉ One over the Christmas break with a two-part special focusing on re-housing Ukrainian refugees.
Stepping back into his boots and hard hat as chief motivator, Baz Ashmawy will pull together a top-class team of fellow builders to create new homes for Ukrainian people, who were forced to flee conflict when the Ukrainian war erupted earlier this year.
Aoife Rhattigan and Kerry Hiddleston will be working together to oversee the design, and the experience of Brandon Duarte from MMD Construction overseeing the build with the help of his two foremen, Richie Doyle and Dan Farrell.
Diarmuid Gavin oversees the garden design with his trusty deputies, Paul Smyth and Kalin Kelly. Stephen Brennan from Kirby Group Engineering supervised a massive rewiring operation and Helena Ryan was over Health and Safety across a frenetic working environment.
Their project will be to revitalise a house in Kingston College in Mitchelstown, North Cork, a community of 31 small, terraced houses which are grouped around a large square with a chapel as its central focus.
Built by James, fourth lord baron Kingston to cater to former tenants on his estate, they have been providing housing to the needy since 1761. The houses are in trust to three Church of Ireland Bishops and one of these is Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross Dr Paul Colton.
It was he and diocesan secretary Billy Skuse who, having watched the plight of the Ukrainian people and their current exodus due to the Russian invasion of their country, decided to put out an appeal to try and raise money to do up some of the vacant houses to house refugees and their families.
Cobh-based solicitor Charlie Daly and Mitchelstown businessman Denis McGrath stepped in to help, and also worked tirelessly to assist the DIY SOS team's efforts in the lead-up to and across the build itself. And when the Ukrainian refugees move home, as they hope, the houses will be available to other families in need, as part of the trust for many more years to come.
This case is just one of many across Ireland today. There are currently thousands of Ukrainian refugees in temporary homes in Cork, and the support and goodwill from the community towards them has been immense.
The DIY SOS team had their work cut out for them, working on six houses, six gardens and a communal garden for good measure, which makes this project by far their biggest build yet.
Volunteers from all nationalities came together to help these families, and the community garden itself provided further opportunity for local integration as our garden designer Diarmuid Gavin was well qualified to turn it into a legacy space that will benefit the town and the community for many, many years to come.
Watch DIY SOS: The Bigger Build Ireland on Friday 30 December at 6.30pm and Saturday 31 December at 8pm, on RTÉ One.
