Tender advertised for demolition of Rathcoole multi-storey

Demolition work at one of Rathcoole’s iconic tower blocks is expected commence this summer.
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The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) outlined the proposed timetable for the removal of the Newtownabbey estate’s Monkscoole House after the tender invitation process went live this week.

The Department for Communities approved the housing authority’s business case recommending the tumbling of the vacant high-rise unit just over a year ago.

A spokesperson for the NIHE said: “The tender for the demolition of Monkscoole House was advertised on February 17 and the last date for submissions is March 18.

The four iconic towers in Rathcoole.The four iconic towers in Rathcoole.
The four iconic towers in Rathcoole.

“Subject to the receipt of suitable tenders, we hope to award the contract in early May with work starting on site over the summer months. It is anticipated that it will take approximately 12 months to complete the demolition works.”

One of the neighbouring units in the estate is also earmarked for removal.

The NIHE spokesperson added: “At present our proposal – as set out in our Tower Blocks Action Plan approved by the board of the Housing Executive and the Department for Communities – is that Abbotscoole House would also be demolished and that 50 brand new social homes would be built on the combined cleared site of the two blocks.

“The current policy is that any new social housing is built by a registered housing association.”

The housing body also proposes to retain Rathcoole’s Carncoole House and Glencoole House for a period of at least 10 years and undertake associated improvement works.

Macedon Ulster Unionist Councillor Robert Foster has repeatedly called for the retention of the four units.

Cllr Foster said: “The short-sightedness of NIHE knows no bounds. Residents are rightly up in arms that this plan is proceeding at pace. Numbers on the housing waiting list are rising and will only get worse due to Covid with circa 500 on the list in the Newtownabbey One district at present, yet they seek to demolish this tower block encompassing 50 dwellings.

“Monkscoole House should be renovated, not demolished. Housing associations in GB are refurbishing their tower blocks to include battery energy storage systems and other future-proofing adaptations. They have much more foresight than NIHE.”

“What NIHE fail to tell residents is that no housing can be built on the land left vacant by the proposed demolition of Monkscoole House until Abbotscoole House is demolished,” Cllr Foster claimed.

“No business case has been presented nor approved for demolishing Abbotscoole House and given the current financial situation Covid is placing us in, it is very possible it won’t be approved.

“We are in the very real situation that once demolished the site would lay vacant for an indeterminate period with no housing built to replace the tower block.

People want to live in these flats and no matter what cross-party lobbying and residents’ opposition is put to NIHE, they refuse to listen. Even at this late hour it is not too late for NIHE to reconsider demolition and look to invest in these properties and I strongly urge them to do so.”

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Earlier this month the Newtownabbey Times reported that Glengormley SDLP Cllr Noreen McClelland had raised concerns about the growing gap between housing need and the “ever-apparent lack of new social homes” in the greater north Belfast area.

For more on this story, read here

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