Belfast Waterfront Regeneration
Revitalizing Belfast’s historic harbor and wider riverfront
Maritime Belfast
|
Belfast, Northern Ireland
|
2023 (April to December)
Among Europe’s largest waterfronts, where the iconic RMS Titanic was designed and built.
10 kilometers of continuous waterfront promenade requiring enhancement.
9 defined character areas, each offering distinct investment opportunities.
Challenges
- While offering significant development potential, complex economic and planning factors have hindered the long-planned development ambitions for vacant harbor land in central Belfast.
- To unlock investment opportunities, Maritime Belfast established the Belfast Waterfront Task Group to determine the best way to advance development and capture the waterfront’s potential as a key nexus between tourism attractions, diverse neighborhoods, and the city center.
- Maritime Belfast engaged Danish urbanists Schulze + Grassov and Civic Engineers, along with Hatch, to develop a strategic framework that enables investment, addresses local socio-economic challenges, and strengthens community connections to the waterfront.
Solutions
- Identified strategic and highly localized investment opportunities within the harbor, leveraging dormant assets and existing attractions, as well as potential funding sources aligned with established government priorities.
- Supported on-site workshops to engage local stakeholders, gathering key insights and building community support.
- Collaborated with Schulze + Grassov to integrate socio-economic insights into a broader spatial vision, informing potential design, placemaking, and development interventions based on their capacity to catalyze investment and deliver social impact.
Highlights
- Ambitious vision for one of Europe's largest waterfronts, promoting catalytic investment in the public realm and placemaking to drive private sector investment, enhance community wellbeing, and build climate resilience.
- Collaboration with technical and design partners to develop tangible recommendations and design interventions with clear strategic merit and tangible funding pathways.
- Leveraged our socio-economic analysis and visioning expertise to create a compelling case for change, aligning varied stakeholders to a shared vision and a shortlist of priority projects.
- Details about the Belfast Waterfront project and framework summary document are available here (Waterfront Task Group - Maritime Belfast | Maritime Belfast).
Project numbers
10 kilometers of continuous waterfront promenade requiring enhancement9 defined character areas, each offering distinct investment opportunities
40,000 residents and 125,000 workers within close walking distance