LANDS AT 177-183 VICTORIA ST, 66-76 MAY ST AND 4-8 GLOUCESTER STREET, BELFAST
MAY ST / VICTORIA ST
PROPOSED DEMOLITION OF EXISTING BUILDINGS AND ERECTION OF RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT WITH GROUND FLOOR RETAIL USE
CONSULTATION MAGAZINE MARCH 2021
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WELCOME Welcome to this online community consultation. This consultation has been prepared to inform and seek feedback from the local community concerning a proposed residential development with ground floor retail use at 177-183 Victoria Street, 66-76 May Street and 4-8 Gloucester Street, Belfast. In summary the proposals aim to: •
Make excellent use of an under-utilised site that is within Belfast City Centre by providing approximately 90 new, high quality apartments in a mixture of one and two bed units within a new landmark city centre building;
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Deliver a development that will provide a high quality building that contributes positively to the Belfast skyline when approaching along all key roads around the site;
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Provide a modern architectural design that is sympathetic to the listed buildings in close proximity to the site and other nearby traditional buildings;
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Provide sufficient private and communal amenity for prospective residents with adequate light and pleasant outlook;
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Create a welcoming and vibrant ground floor frontage to May Street and Victoria Street through the creation of new professional service units and a generous entrance lobby to the proposed apartments; and
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Create a new positive frontage onto Gloucester Street that respects the adjacent listed building.
We warmly invite you to take time to absorb the work the applicant and their professional design and technical team have prepared to date to support the preparation of a forthcoming planning application. A statutory part of the preapplication process is to engage meaningfully with the local community to share our vision for the identified site and to invite your feedback. Given the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on the potential to carry out this type of consultation as an inperson event, it is now being carried out as an online event. The feedback received will then be reflected upon and responded to in refining the detailed design as part pf a formal planning application to Belfast City Council.
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INTRODUCTION In light of the current COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing restrictions, temporary pre-application community consultation regulations were introduced in May 2020 which removed the legislative requirement for a public event. Alternative consultation methods, such as online magazines, were encouraged. Therefore, Clyde Shanks Ltd are using online tools to assist you to review, consider and provide feedback on these development proposals.
Submission of a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) to Belfast City Council
Your feedback on the proposals is very much welcomed and all matters raised will be taken into consideration and reflected upon in finalising the proposals that will be contained in the formal application submission.
The purpose of the PAN is to give formal notice of the intention to submit a planning application and from the date of the notice it triggers a minimum period of 12 weeks before an application may be submitted. Prior to the submission of the application the applicant is required to undertake a community consultation.
We will prepare a report, known as the Pre-Application Community Consultation report (PACC report), summarising all of the feedback and how the design team has responded to this. This PACC report will be submitted to Belfast City Council as part of the planning application package.
This was provided to the Council in June 2020 and was further updated in early February 2021 to confirm the dates and format of this public consultation. It also confirmed that notice of the public consultation would be advertised in the local press (Belfast Telegraph).
Submission of a formal Pre-Application Discussion (PAD) request Engagement with the Council’s planning officers and seeking to secure meaningful pre-application discussion and feedback from its consultees is recognised as important in seeking to improve the quality of developments. This was formally initiated on the November 2019 through submission of a PAD form
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EXISTING SITE The proposed development site is roughly ‘L’ shaped, is located at the intersection of Victoria Street and May Street in Belfast City centre and covers an area of approximately 970 square metres. The site is relatively flat with no significant change in level between May Street, Victoria Street and Gloucester Street.
Viewpoint 1 (see map overleaf)
The portion of the site sitting against the corner of May Street / Victoria Street is currently occupied by a mix of 1 - 3 storey buildings, abutting the neighbouring Thompson’s Solicitors building, which is a traditional three storey terrace finished in red brick and render with a pitched, slate roof.
Viewpoint 2 (see map overleaf)
The site extends along the length of the city block between May Street and Gloucester Street, which is currently occupied by a low scale warehouse building. The Gloucester Street component of the site abuts a 2.5 Storey listed Victorian bank building that is located on the junction of Victoria Street and Gloucester Street.
The Western flank of the site is bounded by a vacant plot/surface level car park that is enclosed by wire fencing.
Viewpoint 3 (see map overleaf)
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May Chambers
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SURROUNDING CONTEXT The city block the site is located within has remained underdeveloped and is characterised by low grade, low scale modern buildings, with the exception of the Thompson Solicitor’s building and Listed Bank Building. This site offers a huge opportunity to redevelop a prominent corner on the city edge that better responds to its neighbours, and the city centre more generally.
Sketch context elevations of site and surrounding buildings
West Immediate west of the site within the same city block is a relatively modern, two storey office building. The building is of no architectural merit and is out of keeping with the general scale of development within its immediate context. Just beyond this building to the west is a large, ten storey government office building known as Goodwood House. This building is of modern design and finished predominantly in red and buff brick with grey cladding to the top floor. It also incorporates metal balcony features on the front elevation. Beyond Goodwood House to towards City Hall the height, scale and quality of buildings varies greatly from three to seven storeys and there are a variety of finishes used. Facing the site on May Street is the Telephone House building. This is a very large office building that extends along May Street in a westerly direction for some distance. The building is seven storeys in height with a double height ground floor and generous upper floor depths. The main block on the corner of May Street and Victoria Street is finished in a mixture of brown brick and decorative concrete blocks and is a Listed Building. This block does not have any windows or access onto either Victoria Street or May Street. There is also a more modern return on May Street that is of poorer architectural quality and finished in rough render. The main access is located on May Street where the original building and extension meet.
Goodwood House
Telephone House
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East To the east of the site is the modern Law Society building and the Open University building on the corner of May Street and Victoria Street. The Law Society building is six storeys in height with double-height ground floor. The top two storeys step back with the exception of a glazed entrance feature that is fully expressed to six storeys. The Open University building is a listed building that is four storeys in height and finished in render with decorative detailing to all floors. The building accesses out onto the junction. South On the other corner, to the south east, is May Chambers. This is also a listed building similar in scale to the Open University. The building is concrete block and render at ground floor and brick on the upper floors. It again has decorative detailing to all floors.
Law Society House
The Open University building
To the south of May Chambers is Forsythe House, a large, modern, six storey office development finished in red brick with setback top floor.
May Chambers
North To the north of the site is Centre House, a red brick, eight storey office building on the junction of Victoria Street and Gloucester Street, with planning permission to building an additional floor on top of the existing building. To the north west on the junction of Gloucester Street and Seymour Street are large, modern office buildings. Victoria House / City Exchange is an eleven storey building finished in curtain glazing and grey cladding. The adjoining building, City Exchange is similar in height but finished in buff brick, stone cladding and glazing.
Forsyth House
Opposite City Exchange on Gloucester St is a modern five storey office building finished in red brick.
Centre House
Victoria House
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LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN AND PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT Section 45 (1) of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 requires that all planning applications have regard to the local development plan, so far as material to the application, and all other material considerations. Section 6(4) states that in making any determination where regard is to be had to the local development plan, the determination must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. This is known as the Plan-led system.
Draft Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015 (dBMAP) BMAP was adopted and subsequently quashed by the Courts in 2015. As such no weight can be attached to it, however, the draft BMAP published in 2004 and the associated report into the Public Inquiry by the Planning Appeals Commission are relevant. Within dBMAP the site is also located within the City Centre Boundary, as well as within the following draft designations: •
Designation CC09 – City Centre Main Office Area and associated Policy OF1;
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Designation CC011 – Civic Precinct Character Area;
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Designation CC102 – Belfast City Core Area of Parking Restraint and associated Policy TRAN 4;
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Designation CC106 – Victoria Street / Oxford Street Area of Townscape Character.
Local Development Plan Belfast Urban Area Plan 2001 (BUAP) Whilst beyond its notional end date of 2001, the BUAP remains the adopted Local Development Plan (LDP) for Belfast. Within the BUAP the Site is not zoned for any particular purpose but it located within Belfast City Centre. As such a residential development is acceptable in principle on the site, subject to complying with all regional planning policy and addressing any site specific environmental constraints.
Each of these draft designations is addressed below. Designation CC09 – City Centre Main Office Area / Policy OF1 This is a permissive policy that carries a presumption in favour of office developments within the Belfast City Centre Main Office Area. However, this policy does not preclude other land use types, including residential use, within this area as it covers the majority of the City Centre.
Designation CC011 – Civic Precinct Character Area This Character Area includes the site and runs east – west one city block in width. This takes in everything from the High Court to the east, to RBAI to the west. The City Hall is located centrally within this Character Area. The Designation has a number of Urban Design Criteria, a number of which are relevant to the proposed development: •
Development proposals shall take into account the height of adjoining buildings;
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That part of any development which fronts onto Victoria Street shall be a minimum height of six storeys, or 18 metres to building shoulder height, and a maximum height of seven storeys;
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New development shall respect the established building line;
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Development shall reflect traditional plot widths. The façade of larger development proposals shall be broken up visually to reflect the scale of traditional units.
The commentary below the designation test states that in general building heights are 5 to 7 storeys, with extremes of 3 and 10 storeys. Site coverage is high and buildings are generally built to the perimeter of the block.
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Designation CC102 - Belfast City Core Area of Parking Restraint / Policy TRAN4 This area covers the site and almost all of Belfast City Centre with the exception of the area immediately south of the site and west of Durham St / Sandy Row. Policy for parking in this area is controlled by Policy TRAN 4. Policy TRAN 4 – Parking Standards Within Areas of Parking Restraint The objective of this policy is to reduce the need for car borne commuting and promote a shift from car use in peak periods towards other forms of transport. This is done by demand management, and in particular restricting the amount of non-operational parking that is provided with new nonresidential developments.
full planning application to justify car parking provision within the site that is below 1 car parking space per apartment. This will include preparing a Transport Assessment Form, Travel Plan, Service Management Plan and Parking Statement. Designation CC106 – Victoria Street / Oxford Street Area of Townscape Character This draft designation includes the site and extends primarily to the north and east including the area between Victoria Street and Oxford Street as far north as Waring Street. Key features of the draft ATC relevant to the Site include: •
Late Victoria and Edwardian landmarks of architectural and historical significance to the area. These include… the listed bank buildings on corner sites along Victoria Street, (including those framing May St)…
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Historic buildings contributing to the fabric and character include the remnants of a Victorian terrace in Victoria Street…
Policy TRAN4 identifies a reduced parking standard for residential development within the Core Area of one space per unit. However, Policy TRAN 4, and the Planning Appeals Commission’s recommendations to amend this policy, provide flexibility. The PAC recommended that the text within the policy be amended to include the following bullet point – “Reductions in the above standards will be considered in appropriate circumstances where evidence of alternative transport arrangements can be clearly demonstrated, or, other material considerations exist that justify an exception to the policy.” It is the applicant’s intention to submit additional supporting information with the
Belfast City Council Local Development Plan – Draft Plan Strategy Belfast City Council is preparing a new Local Development Plan (LDP), which will provide the planning framework for the city up to 2035. The draft Plan Strategy was published in September 2018 and sets out the council’s strategic vision for the development of the City. The dPS is currently going to
an Examination In Public, which is being conducted by the Planning Appeals Commission. Draft Policy SD3 of the dPS proposes that the council will support new economic and residential development to create a compact and vibrant city centre. New development will be directed towards development opportunities located within a number of areas including the City Centre. Draft Policy HOU1 states that the housing supply proposed adopts a sequential approach to new development, where the focus of new growth will be on the principal city of Belfast, particularly Belfast city centre and the existing urban footprint. Draft Policy DES3 specifically relates to tall buildings that are proposed within the City Centre. Tall buildings are defined as any building over 35 metres in height. A number of general criteria are set out and it is confirmed that further supplementary planning guidance will be published to assist the assessment of tall buildings. Regional Planning Policy There are a number of Planning Policy Statements and other regional planning policy documents that are relevant to the assessment of the proposed development. These have all been taken into account in developing the proposed scheme and a supporting statement articulating how these have been compiled with will accompany the planning application.
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PRELIMINARY DESIGN RESPONSE Design Principles The applicant’s vision for the site is to create an attractive, contemporary apartment development. At the preliminary design stage this vision was characterised by a number of key design principles. These are as follows: •
The development should create a modern, landmark building on this important corner site;
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The height, scale, architecture and materials should be sympathetic to the surrounding development, and in particular the nearby listed buildings;
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The development should provide high quality residential accommodation with positive and bright aspect provided from all apartments;
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The development should deliver attractive, accessible and safe areas of private and communal open space and other modern communal facilities;
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The development should create an active, welcoming and attractive ground floor through the introduction of a mixture of commercial units and a generous entrance lobby for the apartments;
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The building frontage to May St should respect the rhythm of the adjacent Victorian terrace and should incorporate a step down in height to respect its scale;
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The development to Gloucester Street should provide a positive frontage whilst respecting the scale and design of the adjacent listed building.
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PRELIMINARY DESIGN RESPONSE Key Views of Proposed Development The proposed design of the building flows from the above design principles and the engagement undertaken with the Council and its consultees over the past 15 months. The building has been designed to reflect the overall height of Telephone House, creating a symmetry of two pairs of similar height buildings across the four corners of the junction of Victoria Street and May Street.
Continued
In developing the proposals for the Site Todd Architects has used the VuCity modelling to assess the height, scale, massing and broad architectural principles of the proposed building. They began by undertaking a site visit of the surrounding area and identifying the key views of the site on approach from all directions.
The initial building model was then placed into VuCity and images from the identified key views generated. The main principles of the building design were then refined based on how the building appears from these views and feedback received from the Council.
These VuCity images were then developed into more detailed CGI images using actual photgraphs taken from the key viewpoints. These CGIs are presented on the following pages with a brief explanation under each image.
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PRELIMINARY BUILDING LAYOUT Todd Architects has prepared preliminary block plans and floor plans for all levels. The layout at present proposes a total of 90 apartments on the 1st to 9th floors. All of the apartments are access from a large lobby that access out onto May Street. Park Hood landscape architects have also created a preliminary design for the main amenity deck on the first floor between the buildings on May Street and Gloucester Street. The apartments are all one and two beds and have an aspect onto either the public street or into the central amenity deck. All will have pleasant, active outlooks and will benefit from adequate daylight penetration due to either facing south or benefitting from the open aspect created by the large amenity deck. On the first floor there will be a large resident’s lounge that will be available for all residents to use. The lounge will have large glazed doors out on to the amenity deck to create a synergy between the two, particularly in the summer months.
The amenity deck will provide all residents with a large, accessible amenity area that will benefit from a generous amount of natural day light and sunlight due to its size and open space to the east, west and north. The deck will also be overlooks by a number of the apartments creating a safe and secure area, whilst also providing a pleasant outlook for those apartments that overlook it. A number of the apartments also have their own small balconies providing some private amenity space. The layout does not incorporate parking for residents. This is due to the sustainable location of the development within the City Centre where it is expected the vast majority of residents will walk, cycle or use public transport. A service access is proposed onto Gloucester Street to provide servicing to the building and several disabled parking spaces at ground floor.
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Block plan highlighting communal amenity areas
Proposed design of main amenity deck
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Computer-generate image of the proposed amenity deck
Proposed view from second floor apartment across amenity deck
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View of proposed development from south-east side of Victoria St / May St junction
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View of proposed development from Gloucester St
View of proposed development from Gloucester St
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View of proposed development from junction of Oxford Street and May Street
View of proposed development when approaching from south along Victoria Street
View of Victoria St frontage MAY/VICTORIA STREET, BELFAST |
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ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS Supporting Assessments A number of environmental and technical assessments are currently being completed for the proposed development to understand the existing site conditions and to assess the potential impacts that the development will have on the site and its surroundings. Each of the assessments is explained below: Archaeology & Built Heritage An archaeology and built heritage assessment is being completed as part of the development proposals. This will articulate the baseline of existing heritage features within the vicinity of the site and describe how the proposed development will relate to these features. The advice from the heritage consultant is also being input to the design process to refine the proposals.
Ground Conditions A contaminated land risk assessment is being undertaken on the site. However, as the majority of the site is currently developed it is likely that the contamination assessment will have to be completed after planning permission is granted once the existing buildings have been demolished, but prior to construction commencing on the proposed development. This is not unusual for development within the City Centre. Air Quality An assessment of air quality in the locality is being undertaken by consultancy Irwin Carr to understand the impact of the proposal on the local area and the future residents of the proposed development. This will examine existing monitoring information relating to air quality taking in to consideration annual average daily traffic flows and the surrounding network both at construction and operational stages. It is anticipated that there will be an insignificant increase in traffic flows post development and that the local area will not experience any significant change in air quality post development.
Noise A noise assessment is also being undertaken by Irwin Carr. The assessment will assess the noise environment of the future occupiers of the apartments, the external amenity space, as well as the plant and equipment proposed as part of the development. The assessment will consider noise levels for both daytime and nighttime.
Drainage A Drainage Assessment is required by planning policy for a development of this scale. This assessment is being prepared by Flood Risk Consulting and looks at the existing water and sewer infrastructure, and run-off from the site. This is then assessed against the proposed development in terms of its site coverage with non-permeable materials and the intensification of use.
Transport The proposal presents an excellent location for this development as it is in close proximity sustainable modes of transport in the form of bus and rail, as well as all of the employment, education and shopping opportunities provided by the City Centre.
As part of this assessment the consultant is undertaking detailed consultation with NI Water and Rivers Agency.
Through a Travel and Service Management Plan being prepared by MRA Partnership every effort will be made to encourage maximisation of sustainable travel modes including a focus on public transport and cycle to work.
Detailed reports setting out the findings of the appointed consultants, their assessment of the proposed development and any proposed mitigation measures will accompany the planning application.
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WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? We thank-you for taking time to review the content of this consultation and would be delighted if you would take the time to share your thoughts on what you have seen, and prospect of the proposed development proceeding through planning. Following the end of the consultation period (25th March 2021), your feedback will be taken into consideration in finalising the proposed development. A formal planning application will be submitted to Belfast City Council thereafter. Once submitted, the opportunity for further public engagement in the decision-making process will take place in the normal manner through the submission of representations to the Council following the applications advertisement and neighbour notification procedures.
HOW TO FIND OUT MORE? On our website, www.clydeshanks.com you can leave feedback, raise questions or leave your contact details should you require further assistance. If you wish to discuss the proposal you can also do so by: Telephone - 02890434393 Email - gavin@clydeshanks.com Post – Clyde Shanks Ltd, 2nd Floor, 7 Exchange Place, Belfast, BT1 2NA
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DEADLINE
Please note all comments should be with Clyde Shanks Ltd no later than Thursday 25th March 2021.
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2nd Floor 7 Exchange Place Belfast BT1 2NA t | 028 9043 4393 clydeshanks.com