Ballymun renewal project is honoured

The Ballymun Regeneration Project, which aims to create a new, sustainable town in the north Dublin suburb, has been shortlisted…

The Ballymun Regeneration Project, which aims to create a new, sustainable town in the north Dublin suburb, has been shortlisted for an international award.

The Ballymun Project has also been nominated as an "ambassador project" for the Partnerships Awards at the Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities conference which takes place in Stockholm in June.

The conference is organised by the City of Stockholm to commemorate what it describes as "the global awakening of the environmental challenge".

As an ambassador project, new Ballymun is a candidate for one of the 10 partnership awards which will be presented by the King of Sweden at a ceremony on World Environment Day, June 5th.

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According to the citation, the building of new Ballymun is "more than replacing an old high-rise estate from the 1960s with higher-density but lower-rise housing".

It said the project's ambition was to create a new town, which is sustainable economically, socially, environmentally and physically, while preserving the old community, working with the existing tenants and providing the type of town they want.

Old Ballymun failed due to a combination of poor housing management, inadequate landscaping and poor insulation of flats, leading to a high turnover of tenants, many vacant flats, high levels of unemployment and drug problems.

In 1997, planning and consultation for the new Ballymun started.

The first building works began during 2000 with the first residents rehoused in October 2001.

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien is an Irish Times journalist