Duncairn Community Partnership. Intercomm Building, 290-292 Antrim Road, Belfast. Telephone 90352165. Email: info@duncairn.com
Shared Future... Shared Neighbourhood... Shared Housing
Duncairn Community Partnership supports shared housing initiatives as a means of developing and promoting shared neighbourhoods. To this end, DCP is supporting Newington Housing Association to develop a shared housing project on ground that contains two derelict properties on the Limestone Road at its junction with Hallidays Road.
The partnership had previously supported the development of Delaware Shared Housing complex, which is a cross community partnership between Newington and Filor Housing Associations. Formerly known as the "Old Shirt Factory", this building situated on the Limestone Road, opposite the Halidays Road entrance to Tigers Bay, had badly deteriorated and was at the centre of severe and volatile interface violence that resulted in the need for five structurally imposing cctv cameras to be located in front of this building, which are still present today.
The building was purchased by a private developer who turned the derelict mill into apartments, which, without community engagement or consultation and due to their interface location, became unsellable.
There followed a protracted period of consultation between both communities resulting in the formation of a cross-community partnership to support Newington and Filor Housing Associations, who, with financial assistance from DSD, purchased this development.
The old shirt factory before redevelopment
The new Delaware Shared Housing Complex
The Housing Associations worked in partnership with Duncairn Partnership member groups and developed a shared future social housing project. This ensured these properties would be allocated on a cross community basis with all tenants agreeing to support the principles of a shared housing scheme similar to those supported by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
This was not only a first for North Belfast, but also a significant and remarkable example of a successful shared future housing scheme situated in the heart of what was once known as the most contentious interface in Northern Ireland. Thanks to the commitment and work carried out by community groups and housing associations, a site viewed by both communities as nothing more than a volatile and dangerous interface flashpoint, has been totally transformed therefore contributing to the regeneration of this once contested space.
