Nama to demolish unsold apartment block

A unsold apartment block dangerously situated within an unfinished housing estate in Longford will be the first development to be demolished at Nama’s behest.

The agency has authorised its destruction in a move welcomed by residents of the unfinished estate who have been campaigning to make their area safe.

The building is part of the Gleann Riada estate on the Stokestown road in Ballyminion, Co Longford, which has been one of the standout unfinished estates in the upper Shannon region.

There are 90 other houses on the rest of the estate which will benefit from the removal of the 12 apartments in the block. These units could not be sold and have fallen into disrepair.

Residents have been campaigning for Nama and Longford County Council to act on the estate.

Nama said it was more economical to knock the building down than it was to maintain it or get the units ready for sale into a reluctant market. It gave the go ahead to begin demolition within three weeks.

Nama will pay for the work and said if councils declare a development to be unsound or unsafe, it will move in to knock it.

“Where it is uneconomic to finish-out an estate or a part of an estate, or if the local authority deems it to be structurally unsafe, we will invest our resources in demolishing the relevant structure and ensure that it is made safe for other residents. This will benefit residents of those estates and make the estate safe from a health and safety perspective.”