See our campaign successes !
Historic Buildings
Current Campaigns
ROYAL EXCHANGE, CATHEDRAL QUARTER
RETAIL-LED ROYAL EXCHANGE :
AT WHAT PRICE TO THE CITY'S HERITAGE?
We continue to work with groups in the Cathedral and City Centre Conservation Areas to encourage heritage and culture-led regeneration in the birthplace of the city and are represented on the DSD sponsored Cathedral Quarter Steering Group.
The DSD backed 'Royal Exchange' retail-led scheme was advertised at the start of December. It involves a massive amount of demolition of good buildings, including late 19th century, inter-war and post-war structures and the complete loss of the interior (i.e. arcade) of the unusual 1930s North Street arcade by Cowser and Smyth. The unique structure was badly damaged as a result of an arson attack in April 2004. Original plans unearthed by the Society and a full photographic study of the building by Mervyn Smyth of Belfast Exposed would allow accurate reinstatement.
We are working with the Forum for Alternative Belfast, Belfast Civic Trust, Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust, Belfast City Centre Management's Character and Style Action Group, students and other groups to highlight the impact of the scheme on the built heritage and to lobby to retain the historic buildings which are central to forming the character of the birthplace of the city. It is this distinctive character which will provide the foundation for the successful long-term regeneration of this unique part of the city.
Our buildings at risk beer mat aimed to raise awareness of the potential of the important stock of empty historic buildings within the area.
TAKE ACTION:
Please contact us if you wish to get involved in this campaign.
You can register your views by writing to Neil Dunlop at Belfast Planning Office, Bedford House, 16-22 Bedford Street BT2 7FD or emailing belfast.planning@doeni.gov.uk
Please quote the reference Z/2011/1532/F
SWANSTON'S LINEN WAREHOUSE, (ATHLETIC STORES), QUEEN STREET, BELFAST
DoE Planning Service approved demolition of this Victorian warehouse in the Belfast City Centre Conservation Area in June 2009. The proposal involved its replacement with a nine-storey retail and residential development. The Society had lodged an objection just a month earlier which was validated by the Department. Research by Paul Harron, an architectural historian, revealed it to be the work of celebrated Belfast architectural firm Young and Mackenzie, built for Swanston and Bones - linen cuff and collar makers. So this is a quintessentially Belfast industrial building. It clearly made an important contributon to the character of the area and the Conservation Officer had defended it in his consultation response.
The Society decided this approval was so damaging to the future of Conservation areas that it had no option but to challenge the decision in the High Court (the only appeal route available to third parties). Leave was granted to judicially review the decisions because proper process had not been followed. The Conservation Area architect had not been consulted and costings had not been provided. This challenge led to both permissions being quashed at the start of January 2010, but the applications remain live. Planning Service now must follow its own policy and protocol.
The application was re-advertised in February 2010 and a revised application was submitted in July, for a 7-storey replacement building with basement parking along the same lines as the previous scheme, to which we objected. We trust that the DoE, which is charged with looking after conservation areas in the interest of the public, will not make the same decision again, and that the applicant will be persuaded of the merits of restoring and converting the warehouse for 21st century use. If you are concerned about the erosion of the character of Conservation Areas like these, please register your own objection.
TAKE ACTION:
If you are not a member please consider joining. This adds volume to our voice.
We hope you will take the time to send your own letter in this important stage of the campaign.
Letters to the press also help to keep the issue alive in the public mind.
Have a look at Catalyst Arts 'Save Swanston's linen warehouse' Facebook page.
UNAUTHORISED DEMOLITION OF BALLYCASTLE TERRACE
OVERVIEW:
On the evening of Friday 14 December 2007 a series of fires took hold across a prominent late Victorian terrace on Quay Road in the lower part of the Ballycastle Conservation Area. The entire group was demolished without consent that weekend. The applicants had lodged an application to demolish and argued that the buildings were structurally unsound but a report commissioned by the Society from a structural engineer with extensive conservation experience found that the buildings were not beyond repair. A positive conservation-led approach is fundamental in conservation areas which are defined by their historic fabric and a swift refusal should have been issued. The Society and concerned local people continue to demand that the group be reinstated.
TAKE ACTION:
We sent a letter to the Minister, asking for enforcement action to be taken and to ensure accurate replication of the buildings. Frustratingly an apparent lack of evidence has led to a decision not to bring the case to court, but Planning Service can still insist upon accurate reinstatement. Please send another letter to the Minister requesting this requirement for any development proposed for the site.
LISTED 'PINEY RIDGE' DEMOLISHED WITHOUT CONSENT
B1 listed 'Piney Ridge' was demolished without consent around Easter 2008.
The house is described in the UAHS publication on The Architectural Heritage of Malone and Stranmillis as:
“A very crisp late Arts and Crafts design on an angled plan. Rather chunky roughcast walls with small leaded panes in dark stained casement windows, and with Lutyenesque tile-hung double height bays under big overhanging Westmoreland slate roofs. Very stylish.
The Society called upon the DoE to act swiftly to punish this offence using the full force of its enforcement powers to help ensure that others are deterred from pursuing the same course of action. Unfortunately the magistrate decided that the offence merited a fine of a mere £150. The Society will continue to ask that the Department insist upon accurate reinstatement of the house on the site, based on the drawings held by NIEA: Historic Building Unit. Such a condition means that the owner will be suitably punished through costly replication and that a local heritage asset (though not authentic) will be replaced. This action would send out a robust message that is diffcult to ignore.
TAKE ACTION:
Write to the Minister asking that the building be accurately reinstated based on the original drawings held by DoE.
SAVE THE MILLOVERVIEW:
We supported the recently ousted artists' collective, Creative Exchange, in their bid to have Loopbridge mill listed. The top floor of this 4 storey mid 19th century flax spinning mill housed their studios and a series of planning applications for supermarkets would involve its demolition. A number of mill conversions across Belfast and beyond demonstrate how these commanding industrial buildings can accommodate highly successful mixed use development schemes. We hope this potential can be realised at Loopbrige.
