At 61m tall and with 20 floors, Divis Tower, which shares its name with Divis mountain, is Belfast's tallest residential building. The tower is one of many completed in the area by the NI Housing Executive, and reflected a trend throughout the UK at the time, towards high rise council housing.

Soon after completion in 1966 the British army would come to realise its strategic importance during the troubles. Due to Divis Towers location between the Falls Road and the Shankill Road it provided an excellent elevated view of the surrounding areas for the security forces. The top two floors of the tower became restricted to the army who often could only access the building by helicopter. From the 1970’s until 2005 soldiers were stationed on top of the residential building giving Divis Tower the accolade of being the only high rise building in the UK with an army post on top of it.

Removal of the observation post commenced in August 2005 (see BBC Online article above) providing the Housing Executive with an extra two floors. In May 2007 a £850,000 scheme was announced in which these would be transformed into eight extra flats along with the addition of a new roof that would cover the plant house and water tanks on the roof. The façade of Divis Tower, along with hallways, stairways and the two lifts will also be upgraded during the work.

March 2006 Planning Application:

0387/F - Divis Tower, Divis Street, Belfast
Change of use of 18th and 19th floor to residential use and provision of new plant room and roof covering.