It’s probably 25 years since I first drove around Belfast Harbour. Standing on the slipway where the Titanic was launched, the potential of these 2,000 acres of land, practically in Belfast city centre, was enormous.
Now, activity at the Harbour is “full steam ahead” as the port accelerates it s vision to 2035 of becoming “a port for everyone”.
The 2,000 acres represents approximately 20pc of the geographical area of Belfast city. Half of the land is occupied with shipping activities, and the harbour has just enjoyed a record year for throughput of imports and exports. There are already 760 businesses on the estate, employing 27,000 people, and tenants include Belfast City Airport, Spirit Aerospace and Harland & Wolff.
Belfast Harbour operates as a “trust port”, established to maintain and develop the port for the benefit of its customers and local stakeholders.
As such, the port has no shareholders and all profits are reinvested.
As Belfast Harbour Development Director and Wicklow man Kevin Ryan told me, this means the port can make assertive moves towards achieving its vision to make Belfast Harbour “the region’s gateway for trade, growth, tradeable services and tourism, generating economic growth and jobs and creating an iconic waterfront for Belfast”.
I was impressed by the scale of the ambition and the activity. Historically, parcels of land were developed under long leases to third party developers, but since 2010, the port has been developing directly.
A good example is at City Quays where in recent years the port speculatively developed two BREEAM Excellent rated office buildings, a hotel and multi-storey car park. Also just completed is a £50m Grade A 15-storey office building, the largest such building in Belfast.
While
was filmed in a repurposed painting shed, the port has since developed two new sound stages, offices and workshops for film production
The port is capitalising on the growth of the film business. While Game of Thrones was filmed in a repurposed painting shed, the port has since developed two new sound stages, offices and workshops for film production.
Further investment in additional sound stages and supporting accommodation has commenced, all part of the harbour and NI Screen’s ambition to develop the largest media campus outside of greater London. The expansion includes the UK’s largest commercial and research “virtual production” facility, pre-let to Ulster University, who will provide courses on the skills needed in the industry.
The Amazon/Ridley Scott series Blade Runner 2099 starts production this month.
The scale of the project is staggering and Mr Ryan told me his job is to look strategically, 50 years into the future, and to look at the estate holistically.
In the short term, he sees a shortage of prime office space in Belfast in five years and he is at the planning stage for a further expansion of the City Quays project, providing 2.2 million sqft of mixed-use accommodation.
A key objective is that the port plays a central role in “repopulating” Belfast city centre.
“We don’t want the harbour to become deserted at night,” Mr Ryan told me. The lands have potential for approximately 3,500 homes and the port is already planning a 24-storey, 260-unit build-to-rent building on City Quays, to cater for a professional workforce. Purpose-built student accommodation is also proving successful as the local universities continue to expand. There is also significant investment ongoing in creating public spaces.
Belfast Harbour is well on its way to becoming that “port for everyone”.
