Housing campaigners are ‘re-wilding’ part of a city site where they say the potential for hundreds of new homes is being hampered by concerns it would become a sectarian interface.
The Mackies site in West Belfast, once home to a machinery and munitions plant, has been lying largely vacant for two decades.
The ‘Take Back the City’ campaign has been mapping out areas of publicly owned land throughout Belfast that could be used to build social housing and address the housing need. One of them is the Mackie site - the 25 acres of land they say could accommodate up to 900 social houses.
The main issue blocking the group’s plans for the bulk of the site is that it is still zoned for industrial use. ‘Take Back the City’ wants the site to be for mixed use, for both employment and housing needs, for the ‘betterment of everybody in Belfast’.
However, the land acts as a natural segregation line between traditional nationalist and unionist communities. But there are concerns this is acting as a barrier to building social homes.
Coordinator of Take Back the City, Conal Matthews, told The Irish News the idea mixed communities cannot live together needs to be challenged.
Asked if he believes interface concerns are hampering calls to build homes on the site, Mr Matthews said: “More than likely”.
He added: “There seems to be a common idea that nationalist and unionist communities cannot live together. That’s absolutely rubbish.
“I think the things that unite us are far greater than things that divide us. We all suffer from the cost-of-living crisis, a broken health care system, a broken infrastructure system. In times of real need, people come together.
“Our campaign has activists and people from traditional nationalist and unionist communities, as well as people from migrant communities. We’re all fighting together on basic common need.”
However, the group has experienced ‘radio silence’ from the Department for Communities in recent months. With no discussion or movement on plans, they’ve taken matters into their own hands.
Local schools and community groups have been looking after the part of land at Mackies, which isn’t zoned for industrial use, to help improve biodiversity, and building a community space that people can enjoy.
Several local primary schools have been engaged in rewilding the site with natural flowers.
Mr Matthews hopes the project will gather momentum, before homes can be built around it.
He said: “If we show that we can build houses here in this part of the site, and overcome all the obstacles that are being thrown at us for the wider site, then there’s a great scope to continue on with the rest of the site.
“People at the front of this campaign have been through this broken housing system, temporary accommodation, they’ve been failed by this system. None of us are experts in everything, but we’re all experts in our own lived experience.”
The figures showed 49,588 applicants were on the waiting list for the last quarter of 2025. Besides the Foyle area, Belfast dominated the figures.
The group is currently wrapping up their pre-application discussion, so it can engage with statutory bodies over potential house building on the site. The aim is to have 31 units built on this part of the site, which could house up to over 120 people.
Mr Matthews added: “If the state and the authorities aren’t going to act, then we as the people in the community are going to have to act.
“This is a housing crisis. In times of crisis, you need to act fast. The only people suffering are people within these communities, people who are on this waiting list. Work needs to begin now. You could build 900 social houses, basically half the housing waiting list within west Belfast overnight. Get it done.”
The Department for Communities has been contacted for comment.
