Vanguard Real Estate has submitted a masterplan for its £400m newBelfast waterfront scheme for planning approval.
The proposals, designed by Danish architect Henning Larsen, include up to 750 new homes, a 75,000 sq ft “plug and play” space – a building that adapts to the characteristics and needs of the users inside – as well as office and retail, and a new bridge across the River Lagan to connect the area to Belfast’s city centre.
The first phase of development at the scheme known as Belfast Waterside on the site of the former Sirocco Engineering Works will be a £50m office development creating 270,000 sq ft of space. A planning application for the project was submitted in February to Belfast City council.
A public consultation is now underway on the first phase of residential at the site, which comprises 450 units.
Chris Kane, chairman of Vanguard Real Estate said: “Following more than a year of consultation with the community, local elected representatives and Belfast City Council we are now submitting our masterplan application.
“We have an ambitious placemaking strategy not just to create new office and living space, but to harness the site’s pivotal position and reconnect the city and people of Belfast with the River Lagan that runs through its heart.
“The residential proposals will help deliver much needed city centre homes with an important mix of tenures, delivered as part of a wider mixed-use masterplan containing a vibrant combination of office, hotel, retail and cultural uses. Significantly, our masterplan will deliver a new bridge to connect the city core with this emerging city destination, and the east of the city.”
Vanguard Real Estate is formed of Gulf Resources Development & Investment (GRDI), Graftongate Developments, and the Corbally Group. The firm brought in developer Sellar’s former construction director Flan McNamara in November last year to head up its construction activities.
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