“I agree with the critics. We haven’t produced [the things we said]. But give it until the end of the year.”
Blunt words from Garvan O’Doherty. The local entrepreneur and developer is speaking as a board member of Ilex, the urban regeneration company set up three years ago to revamp the Northern Ireland city of Derry.
He continues: “The government has also to be seen to back us with the appropriate funds. But there’s still optimism here, optimism as well as realism. The next three to four months will sort it out.”
O’Doherty’s words come in response to the increasing number of critics in the city complaining that little progress has been made by the URC. The sense of confusion was also heightened when both the chief executive and chairman left within three months of each other.
Critics such as local estate agents, councillors and developers are asking what has happened to all the promises about turning Derry into a “world-class small city” by developing out dozens of acres of prime city centre land.
“People are critical because of a lack of information and, when they see people resigning, they have to ask ‘where has the money been spent?’” says Robert Ferris, who runs one of the city’s biggest estate agencies. Former chief executive Rick Reinhard was hired on a salary of £100,000.
As far back as January this year, a spokesperson for the Foyle Constituency Unionist Association put out a statement pointing out that there had been “the appointment of high-profile staff [but] there seems to be little development”.
Londonderry Chamber of Commerce president Richard Sterling was quoted in the Belfast Newsletter last month as saying at an LCC meeting that Ilex was not yet able to advance many of its primary target projects of more than a year ago.
Derry city council would not be drawn on any of the criticism of Ilex. Its official response is: “Ilex is very important for Derry and we wish it well, and look forward to co-operating with it.”
Given Derry’s history, and current economic position, the establishment of Ilex – named after Quercus ilex, the evergreen oak – by Northern Ireland’s office of the first minister and deputy first minister brought a lot of hope to the city.
Derry, Northern Ireland’s second city after Belfast, with a population of 120,000, had suffered badly during the 32 years of troubles. But it has been lagging slower far behind Belfast in terms of regeneration, and unemployment is almost touching 6%, higher than the national average of around 4.6%.
The arrival of peace in 1996, following the Good Friday Agreement, resulted in the withdrawal or relocation of hundreds of troops and police. This meant huge swaths of city-centre, waterfront land, which had housed the various military barracks, were now derelict and ripe for redevelopment. Two sites alone provide 40 acres.
The core part of Ilex’s remit has been to oversee the development of this land and, according to the official website “to orchestrate the powers, resources and expertise that the public and private sector partners bring to drive forward the urban regeneration of the Derry city council area”.
Alan McClure was appointed chairman of the board, which was made up of business people and politicians. But the greater expectations were placed on the shoulders of Rick Reinhard, who was made chief executive of the board in June last year.
The American was specifically head hunted because of his extensive work in the regeneration field. He had planned and implemented the major US public and public-private urban regeneration programmes in Richmond, Virginia, and Houston, Texas, as well as in Atlanta, Georgia.
But then months after his appointment at Ilex, there was still no sign of development coming out of the ground – despite Ilex promising at the time the “implementation of projects, resulting in direct investment of at least £77m in Derry and the North West [region] over the next five years – £32m of which is estimated to occur in the short term”.
Even so, Reinhard continued to promote his vision of the city, and of what Ilex would accomplish. In early March, he said the URC would “achieve sustainable renewal and make this city one of the world’s best small cities”.
A sudden departure
“We will be inviting teams of world-class planners to compete in drawing up an imaginative and feasible regeneration framework,” Reinhard told the Belfast Newsletter. Just two weeks later, on 16 March, Reinhard was gone. No official reason has ever been given for his departure.
The only comments from Reinhard were given to the Belfast Newsletter on 17 March saying he was “disappointed about progress to date.” Reinhard added: “I have come to the conclusion that my style is more in tune with a US approach to doing things.”
Three months later, in June, Alan McClure retired.
An Ilex spokesman is now keen to stress that all the upheaval is in the past. “Ilex has now got its house in order,” he says.
He adds that Ilex is following benchmarks set by other UK urban regeneration companies. “It takes two to three years to get things in order, five to 10 years to get things done and then 10 to 15 years to get things wound up.
“The vehicle concept is right for changing Derry. The lessons you learn from other URCs are the same. We want to benchmark those lessons and to learn from the good, the bad and the ugly.”
It seems that the company is getting its house in order – starting with the appointment of a new chairperson. City marketing expert Professor Eddie Friel was given the job six weeks ago, after the post remained vacant for weeks. The appointment was made by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister and the Department for Social Development.
The accompanying official statement was that: “This is an important time for Ilex, with some key building blocks of the company’s regeneration framework being put in place over the next six to nine months.”
For now the people of Derry will be watching the activities of Ilex very closely, and they’ll be expecting a lot of results come spring.
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Ebrington barracks The former military base along the River Foyle covers 26 acres. It is planned to turn it into a mixed-use site. Fort George The 14-acre former military base is also on the River Foyle, on the opposite side from Ebrington, and again the plan is to use the site for mixed-use schemes |
