Massive investment
Major developments are already underway in Belfast and Londonderry, the region’s two biggest cities.
Belfast
The flagship Victoria Square Development, 
Belfast’s new retail hub, is rising out of the ground at a terrific pace. Due to open in spring 2008, the £320 million scheme is one of Europe’s largest urban renewal projects and a milestone in the revitalisation of Belfast city centre.
This imaginative project, which includes 810,000 sq ft of retail floor space and 100 residential units, is creating 3,000 temporary construction jobs, 3,000 permanent leisure and retail jobs, 15 acres of redevelopment and more than £100 million net additional retail turnover.
Much more than just a shopping centre, Victoria Square is planned as a new urban neighbourhood that blends historic buildings with new developments. At the centre of the scheme is a new square and gardens that will be covered by an immense glass dome, with a viewing gallery from which the public can enjoy breathtaking views across the city.
The scheme will bring together Belfast’s shopping district with its waterfront by providing a link between the City Centre and Laganside. Victoria Square builds on the successful regeneration that been achieved on the banks of the Lagan over the past 15 years.
The Laganside Corporation has attracted over £1 billion investment; built nearly 3 million sq. ft. of office accommodation, over 1 million sq. ft. of retail/leisure space; nearly 900 residential units and created nearly 16,000 jobs.
Next in line for a multi-million dollar makeover is the city’s North East Shopping Quarter with the Royal Exchange development. There will be a new department store, two further anchor stores, retail units targeted at high quality tenants and a range of restaurants, bars, cafés, offices, 200 apartments and a hotel. This £300 million boost to the area will expand the retail sector at a pace which maximises opportunity for investors and consumers alike.
A £1 billion plan is set to transform the birthplace of the Titanic. Almost 200 acres of former shipbuilding land will be turned into a new maritime quarter for housing, business, leisure, tourism and education.
Londonderry
Urban regeneration plans are now in place for Derry, Northern Ireland’s second city, that will build on its existing economic and physical strengths and consolidate its acknowledged status as the regional capital of the North West.
Projects already announced include an enhancement scheme for the city centre and a tourism project involving Derry’s historic walls.
Key to this regeneration momentum, is the current availability of prime development sites on both sides of the river Foyle on which Londonderry stands. Redevelopment masterplans for three former military sites, comprising 150 acres, have been launched and will provide the context for further public and private sector development in the city.
The availability of sites offer once-in-a-generation opportunities to quite literally reshape the face and balance of Derry’s central area.
