Last Ballymun tower to be demolished as of Monday

Demolition of the last of the Ballymun tower blocks will begin on Monday, almost two decades after the regeneration of the 1960s high-rise suburb began.

Joseph Plunkett Tower was built in 1967 and was the last of the seven 15-storey towers to be completed, with 90 two- and three-bedroomed flats.

The high-rise housing scheme was built from 1965 to 1969 to accommodate residents of inner-city tenements under the process of 1960s urban slum clearances.

In total, 36 blocks of prefabricated flats - seven of 15 storeys, 19 of eight storeys and 10 of four storeys - were built.

While the flats were rapidly erected, the amenities necessary to sustain communities were slow to follow and Ballymun quite quickly became a magnet for social problems, particularly in the 1980s when it became strongly associated with the city’s growing heroin problem.

More than 2,000 new social homes have been built in Ballymun as part of the €2 billion regeneration project which began in in 1997, but demolition of the high-rise towers only began in 2004.

Razed by implosion

While some of the blocks were razed by implosion, Joseph Plunkett Tower will be taken down by mechanical means using a long reach hydraulic “nibbler” which will bite its way through the structure over a period of weeks.

The rubble remaining will be reused for projects such as road construction and all removable fixtures are sent for recycling, the council said.

Although the bulk of the redevelopment of Ballymun was completed before the economic downturn, the regeneration of the suburb has not been without its difficulties.

The project was hit in 2007 when it was found that pyrite, the mineral which can cause severe structural defects in buildings, had been used. In the region of €10 million has been spent on fixing the problem.

The property crash in particular held back the development of shopping facilities for the community.

11-screen cinema

Treasury Holdings in 2009 secured planning permission for Springcross, a vast €800 million development which was to include an 11-screen cinema, bowling alley, public library, crèche and restaurants, as well as shops and offices.

Treasury had intended to begin construction on the site of the existing dilapidated Ballymun Town Centre, but the site became part of Nama’s portfolio of loans before any development began.

Most retailers in the centre subsequently shut up shop and early last year it lost its anchor tenant, Tesco.

Last year the the council, which already owned 47 per cent of the old shopping centre, reached agreement with Nama and its receivers to acquire the remaining 53 per cent and plans to redevelop it in the coming years .

In the meantime, an adjacent vacant site will be developed for shopping by Alanis Capital.