Tower tumbles: Landmark Ballymun tower bites the dust as part of €2.5bn regeneration blitz

DUBLIN lost one of its most famous, if unloved, landmarks yesterday with the demolition of the Seán McDermott tower in Ballymun.

The 138ft building, which is one of the suburb’s “Seven Towers,” took just five seconds to collapse as a large crowd of onlookers gathered together to witness the historic event.

The 15-storey block was the only one of the high-rise towers capable of being demolished by a controlled explosion. The other remaining towers are all being dismantled on a piecemeal basis with special mechanical equipment.

Over 60kg of high explosive was used to trigger 30 separate detonations in the building. Over 8,500 tons of rubble were left as a result of the e1 million operation, much of which is expected to be recycled for use as material in road construction.

There were traffic diversions in the area for several hours yesterday morning as Ballymun Road was closed to all vehicles as safety officials ordered a 100-metre exclusion zone around the building.

Locals with breathing difficulties had been advised to stay indoors due to the large dust cloud created by the spectacle.

The Seán McDermott tower is the seventh of the 36 apartment blocks that constituted the Ballymun flats to be demolished.

“The demolition of Ballymun’s infamous tower blocks is changing Dublin’s skyline and is a highly visible symbol that another stage in Ireland’s biggest physical, social and economic regeneration has taken place,” said Housing Minister, Noel Ahern yesterday.

All 90 families who lived in the Seán McDermott tower have already been re-housed in new homes in the area.

All the buildings will be taken apart over the next five years to be replaced by 5,000 new homes as part of a €2.5 billion regeneration programme for the Ballymun area. A hotel is due to be located on the site of yesterday’s demolition.