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More than 30m of peace wall has been removed to make way for a £7m shared community building in west Belfast.

The building, located at the former Finlay’s factory site on Ballygomartin Road, was officially opened as part of events to mark Good Relations Week.

The facility has a mix of uses including community programming, sports, offices, meeting and informal gathering spaces.

The aim is for communities to be able to mix spend time together in a welcoming and neutral shared space.

The project has been funded by the EU’s Peace IV programme.

Funding has also been provided by the Department for Communities, Belfast City Council and the Department of Rural and Community Development in the Republic of Ireland.

Peace walls - or peace lines - were first put up at the start of the Troubles at the end of the 1960s to divide some unionist and nationalist areas.

By 2023, about 60 remained, scattered mostly across Belfast, but with one or two others in Londonderry and Portadown, County Armagh.

Lord Mayor of Belfast Micky Murray said the aim of the project is to “create welcoming, safe, shared spaces for people from different community backgrounds to mix”.

“As well as being a hub for community development, it will offer comprehensive programmes of activities to enable communities that have been historically divided to build positive futures together,” Murray said.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said the opening of the centre was the culmination of many years of cross-community engagement.

“It will be a fabulous, shared asset for all the people in the surrounding area,” Lyons said.

The Black Mountain Shared Space was initially established in 2010.

The chair of the organisation, Paul Millar, said the new building would make a huge difference to its work.

The opening of the centre follows the opening of the Shankill Shared Women’s Centre earlier in the year.