Turley Associates secures Belfast city centre scheme
Image supplied by Tribal
Press release: 15 March 2011
Belfast planning and urban design consultancy Turley Associates has secured outline planning permission for the redevelopment of the 6.5 hectare former Sirocco air conditioning works on the edge of Belfast city centre.
The permission, granted on 2 March, approves a Concept Masterplan and a Design Principles document that will guide future applications.
The 200,000 sq m river-fronted site, owned by Northern Ireland based Carvill Group, lies on the opposite side of the River Lagan from the City's Waterfront Hall, Lanyon Place offices and Hilton Hotel. The site lies inside the designated City Centre but outside the Main Office Area and the Primary Retail Core, limiting the type of offices and retailing that can be approved on the site.
The scheme will include 2,100 homes and affordable housing, office space, call centres and R&D space, a hotel, restaurants, cafes, a care home, supermarket, local retail space, leisure use including four parks together with cultural and community use. The scheme is likely to create more than 2,300 direct and indirect jobs, including 400 to 500 in the construction stage.
Diana Fitzsimons, Belfast Office Director, Turley Associates said: "This is a significant decision for Carvill Group and Belfast city centre. It is an exciting scheme that proposes different architects designing the individual blocks which will all be united by high quality public spaces. This will produce an amazing transformation of this part of the city and will be one of the last pieces in the puzzle which redefines the city around its major river."
Chris Carvill, Managing Director, Carvill Group, adds: "We are very pleased with this decision. It is our intention to integrate the derelict Sirocco site into the traditional city centre by providing a high quality pedestrian/cycle bridge to the Waterfront Hall and lining up the main axis of the proposed development to ensure visual connectivity with the city centre core. It will be an impressive scheme."
Turley Associates coordinated the application process and an extensive pre application discussion process. Over 100 community groups and other stakeholders were consulted by the project team during the course of preparing the Concept Masterplan.
The Concept Masterplan also addresses major environmental issues, including:
Flood risk, which required raised site levels right across the site and flood protection for car park basements;
Archaeology, which required a major dig at the site in 2005 and 2010 to reveal 18th century kilns, glass works and pottery. There is also a scheduled industrial chimney remaining on the site; and
Industrial contamination, which requires some pre development works.
Diana adds: "The site is also at a sectarian interface in the city and extensive community-based research was undertaken to inform how the site should be designed to ensure it would become a neutral space and be welcoming to both communities living nearby."
The Carvill Group is committed to providing a scheme to the highest design and sustainability standards. A Ministerial Advisory Group review (similar to a CABE review) was undertaken as part of the application process and was very supportive of both the scheme and the bridge proposals. The scheme will also exceed any current Northern Ireland development in reflecting sustainability principles including a critical mass of people and jobs, support for public transport, the provision of a car club and a £9m pedestrian /cycle bridge.
Tribal Consulting, working with Turley Associates, prepared the Concept Masterplan and RPA Architects and Camlin Longsdale undertook preparation of a set of detailed design principles to ensure the design and landscape integrity.
The recent recession means that the four-phased development in unlikely to commence immediately.
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About Turley Associates
Turley Associates is the UK's leading independent planning and urban design consultancy. The company operates from 10 offices - London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast - and has market leading expertise in planning, urban design, masterplanning, sustainability and heritage. The company has a strong reputation in the residential, retail, infrastructure, energy, health, education, sports and leisure, waste, minerals and mining and financial sectors.