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A Pretty Ghost Estate...

GHOSTS WITH A CHANCE: Not all of Ireland’s ghost estates are half built and hopeless. Some of them have charm, such as this scheme in rural Waterford... THE IMAGES broadcast to the world of Ireland’s ghost estates invariably feature bleak unfinished construction sites under glowering skies, half-built shells of terraced housing or ugly apartment blocks, surrounded by rusting scaffolding, open manholes and wasteland. However among the 2,800 plus empty estates that blight the country’s landscape are a handful of high-end developments – a strange mixture of vanity projects and architectural follies – that stand out not just for their extravagance but because (unlike the bulk of abandoned developments) they are complete, and are situated in stunning, if sometimes remote, locations. Several have ocean views, others are in exclusive suburbs, most push boundaries in terms of design, but all remained unsold when originally launched. In this series we look at luxurious estates that are l