Dunmurry tower blocks are set for demolition this year
Two Dunmurry tower blocks are due to be demolished this year with the tender process now open.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) has now successfully evacuated all of its residents and private owner tenants from the Seymour Hill site.
Rathmoyne and Coolmoyne House will become only the second and third buildings to be brought down in the NIHE’s £308 million Tower Block Action Plan, aimed at replacing ageing tower blocks with new homes in Northern Ireland.
The first block to be demolished was Monkscoole House in Newtownabbey over a number of weeks in June and July 2023.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) contacted the NIHE for an update on the Dunmurry towers, with a spokesperson saying: “All residents of these blocks have now left.
“The tender process for the demolition of the blocks is already underway.
“The tender will be awarded in due course.
“When demolition is completed, new social homes for local families will be built on the site.
“Both buildings have been fully closed and secured. They are regularly monitored, awaiting demolition.”
The clearance of the Dunmurry towers was previously expected in July 2023, however this was not fully achieved until February this year.
A full public consultation on the Tower Block strategy was delivered in 2018 and the action plan for the removal of all 33 tower blocks across Northern Ireland was developed a year later.
The Department for Communities has so far given approval for 10 tower blocks in Housing Executive ownership to be demolished, and all are at various stages of this process.