Developers seek machine to crush concrete jungle

DEVELOPERS of the country's biggest regeneration project have applied for planning permission for a giant concrete crushing machine.

The mobile facility will crush and recover concrete and metal from the sprawling multi-storey flats complex in Ballymun, north Dublin.

The concrete and metal from the seven 15-storey, 19 eight-storey and 10 four-storey blocks of flats will fill an area the size of 10,000 square metres by 3,600 square metres.

The developers Ballymun Regeneration Limited say they will need the crushing machine for 10 years to recover all the concrete.

The project is one of the most ambitious regeneration projects ever to have taken place in Europe and has been underway since 1997.

The project is also unique in that the residents will live in the flats until their new house is built and then move in.

The development is due to be completed in 2008 and is set to cost 1.9 million euro to build.

The 28,000 or so residents will be re-housed in a mixed development of apartments, bungalows and semi-detached houses.

The regeneration includes a new Main Street, a leisure centre, retails units with overhead accommodation, restaurants, a shopping complex, a business and technology park, a hotel and private apartments.

For more see Ballymun Regeneration Limited website at www.brl.ie.