Housing Executive ‘pleased with progress’ despite three year delay on demolishing Dunmurry tower blocks
A housing authority has said it is “pleased with progress” despite a three-year delay on demolishing two of its Dunmurry tower blocks.
A Lisburn councillor has reacted saying the delays are “incredibly disappointing” as the demolition of Coolmoyne and Rathmoyne would “unlock” much needed housing for locals.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) was due to begin the process to pull down the Seymour Hill buildings in July 2023, but faced huge delays including for asbestos removal and legal proceedings over telecom masts.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) contacted the NIHE as a three year timeline passed.
A spokesperson said: “We are pleased with the progress of work at this site and all safety protocols remain in place.”
The towers will form part of a £308m Northern Ireland Housing Executive Tower Block Action Plan, aimed at replacing ageing tower blocks with new homes in the wake of the Grenfell fire disaster (2017) when 72 people tragically lost their lives. It is understood that it could take 18 months to fully take down the buildings when demolition begins.
Councillor Jonathan Craig said: “It is incredibly disappointing after five years since residents moved out of the tower blocks, that still no demolition has taken place.
“It was good to see contractors recently moving in and removing all of the asbestos from the buildings.
“And it is good to see they have actually got to a point where they are going to start the demolition I understand to be after the summer holidays.”
He added: “It is regrettable it has taken this long to actually do this, because this is a site which will unlock 120 much needed homes for those in the Dales tower blocks (Ferndale, Parkdale and Riverdale) who are meant to move out of them and into new housing.
“They are long overdue to move out as those homes are now completely substandard given the fact that little to no maintenance has been done on them in the past decade.
“The insulation is a problem and will be difficult to keep them heated in the winter time.
“So, the sooner the demolition of Coolmoyne and Rathmoyne takes place it will be better for all concerned.”