Planning application submitted for new mixed-use neighbourhood in Belfast City Centre

We have submitted a hybrid planning application for new mixed-use neighbourhood in Belfast City Centre on behalf of Belfast Harbour.

The masterplan for Clarendon Wharf, a major new mixed-use harbourside neighbourhood, commissioned by Belfast Harbour and led by us, has been submitted to Belfast City Council. The project represents an opportunity to create a new distinct destination within the city centre with the historic Clarendon Dock at its heart.

Strategically located minutes from the Cathedral Quarter, the masterplan proposes around 600 new homes alongside a diverse range of commercial, leisure, community uses, and a hotel and apart-hotel, anchored by over four hectares of new and upgraded public realm. A full planning application has been submitted for phase 1 of the masterplan to bring forward the first two plots, delivering 456 new homes alongside active ground floor uses animating the docks and Corporation Street.

Our design responds to the harbour and Sailortown’s distinctive maritime heritage, establishing a framework for development that balances historic character with contemporary urban living. A defining feature of the masterplan is the reimagining of the setting of the historic dry docks, which form the centrepiece of a new network of interconnected public open spaces. This sequence of spaces will connect the waterfront to the Cathedral Quarter, providing settings for cultural activity, recreation, and public gathering. Both the new buildings and the public realm will extend and integrate with the emerging City Quays district and highly successful City Quays Gardens, completing a key piece of Belfast’s urban waterfront regeneration.

The masterplan is structured around a hierarchy of public spaces and a permeable network of streets and routes, prioritising walking and cycling while improving connections to the waterfront. A rich and varied urban grain accommodates a mix of building scales and uses, ensuring diversity and resilience within the emerging neighbourhood.

We led the design for the first phase of the project to deliver four buildings across two plots to provide 456 new high-quality homes with a mix of tenures, including affordable and accessible housing, supported by active ground floor uses that bring activity and employment to the area. Phase 1 will establish Clarendon Wharf as a new neighbourhood within the city centre where people want to live, work and visit, long-term. Buildings have been articulated to frame views in and out of the docks and create definition and enclosure to the surrounding public spaces. The materiality and architectural approach draw on the legacy of Belfast harbour’s historic industrial buildings with a refined palette of brick and stone. Careful modulation of the massing and detailing of the facade creates dynamism and visual interest at street-level and in long-views across the city.

Sustainability is embedded throughout the masterplan. The development targets BREEAM UK New Construction: Residential accreditation and an all-electric energy strategy, integrating climate-resilient landscape design that enhances the site’s blue-green infrastructure with biodiversity-led planting to create a robust, adaptable environment that will support both people and nature.

Erin Towsley, Associate Urban Designer and Architect with Maccreanor Lavington said: “Clarendon Wharf is a unique opportunity to reconnect Belfast with the historic docks through the creation of a distinct and enduring neighbourhood. Our approach has been to work closely with Belfast Harbour and the wider design team to develop a framework that both celebrates the heritage of the site and provides the conditions for a vibrant, sustainable urban community.”

Project team:

• Planning Consultant: Turley
• Landscape Architect: Gillespies
• Structures/Drainage/Ecology/Transport: ARUP
• MEP: Delap and Waller
• Transport: RPS Tetratech
• Heritage: IAC
• Microclimate: GIA
• Fire Strategy: Jensen Hughes
• Cost Consultant/Project Management: WH Stephens
• TVIA: Park Hood
• Noise/Air Quality: Irwin Carr