Significant sum still needed to save Seven Sisters towers, Andy Burnham says

College Bank flats

Saving the iconic Seven Sisters towers will cost a ‘significant’ sum, Andy Burnham has said as he welcomed the news that the social housing blocks could be saved.

Four of the landmark high-rise buildings in Rochdale were set to be knocked down, but bosses are now looking at ways to avoid demolition.

Earlier this year, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing – which owns and manages the properties – launched a review of the College Bank project, six years after knocking down the flats was first floated.

And yesterday (28 June), its interim chief executive said the organisation is now ‘hopeful’ the towers can be saved.

<p class='newslink'><span class='readmore'>Read more:</span> <a target='blank' href='/news-features/2/news-headlines/152381/rbh-reveals-seven-sisters-flats-could-be-saved-with-funding-after-teaming-up-with-another-registered-housing-provider'><span class='newstitle'>RBH reveals Seven Sisters flats could be saved with funding after teaming up with another registered housing provider</span><span class='dateonline'>Published: 29 June 2023</span></a></p>

Mr Burnham told BBC Radio Manchester this morning (29 June) that he is ‘pleased’ to hear the news. However, the Greater Manchester mayor said modernising the tower blocks would cost a ‘significant amount of money’.

He said: “I’m really pleased to hear that people are celebrating in Rochdale because there’s been a cloud hanging over the Seven Sisters for a long time and it still is to a degree because while I still do very much support what the new chief executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing is saying about wanting to keep them, there is a challenge with regard to funding.”

Mr Burnham said he would work with the housing organisaiton and the local council to put together plans to bring the buildings up to modern standards and promised to help ‘in any way we could’. But asked how much the work would cost, he said it is currently estimated to be in the ‘double figure millions’.

He added: “Ever since I’ve been mayor, there’s been that cloud hanging over the Seven Sisters. To have the [interim chief executive] say the right thing is to keep it, the campaigners will rightly feel delighted, they will feel vindicated, and I always had it in my heart that they were right.

“I couldn’t really necessarily intervene when the previous leadership of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing had a different plan because they’re a separate organisation. But I know that councillors in Rochdale, the leader in Rochdale, myself – we were all saying, ‘well hang on a minute, we need a change here’.

“And with a change of leadership, that’s given us a chance to have a rethink. So yes, really good news as far as it goes, but there’s a lot more that needs to be done to put together the package.”

The former chief executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing was ‘removed’ from his role last year in the wake of the tragic death of Awaab Ishak. Gareth Swarbrick left the organisation after a coroner ruled that the toddler died due to prolonged exposure to damp and mould at his home on the Freehold estate.

Joseph Timan, Local Democracy Reporting Service