BELFAST Harbour has started work on a new £3 million project to develop a city garden next to its dockside office estate.
City Quays Gardens involves the redevelopment of a car park area between Belfast Harbour Commissioners' Office and the recently built City Quays 3 high rise office tower.
The new urban garden area is expected to be completed by August 2024.
Northstone has been appointed as lead contractor for the project, which will be carried out in a number of phases.
Belfast Harbour said the new gardens will feature extensive tree planting, events lawns, amphitheatre seating and outdoor workspace, supported with publicly available wi-fi.
The trust port has also said it will incorporate ‘an off-road alternative cycle route’ along the city’s waterfront, while plans are being developed with Maritime Belfast Trust and Belfast City Council with a view to turn the area into an events space.
Belfast Harbour chief executive, Joe O'Neill said: “It is fantastic to see work starting on City Quays Gardens, the latest part of the City Quays masterplan and a key part of our vision to develop an iconic waterfront for the city.
“We are collaborating with partners to create a vibrant space that all communities can enjoy, and which contributes to making Belfast an attractive place to live, work, visit and invest.
“This investment will transform the public space around City Quays, making it an attractive leisure space for visitors and better connecting the harbour estate to our neighbouring communities.
“We believe the new Gardens will also contribute to Belfast Harbour’s sustainability goal of reaching net zero carbon by 2030 and enhance the wellbeing of local communities and visitors alike.”
Daniel Dempster from Northstone added: “City Quays Gardens is a really exciting project to be involved with, supporting Belfast Harbour in their ambition to create a green space of communities in the city centre.
"The high sustainability standard associated with this project make it really interesting to work on and I am very much looking forward to seeing it come together and people enjoying the space.”
