Concept designs for a new £100 million (€119 million) project in Belfast’s city centre have been released for the first time.
Belfast Stories, which will be a public space, visitor attraction and creative hub, is expected to open by 2030 at the former Bank of Ireland art-deco building and a surrounding 5,000-square-metre site on the city’s Royal Avenue.
The multi-purpose city centre destination will aim to attract more than 700,000 visitors per year, with up to 1,200 jobs supported during the construction and launch phases. Belfast Stories is a flagship project of the £1 billion (€1.19 billion) Belfast Region City Deal (BRCD) programme of investment, designed to contribute to the BRCD vision of driving inclusive economic growth, making a positive impact on some of the region’s most deprived communities, and contributing to a balanced spread of benefits across the city, region, and Northern Ireland.
The organisers say that Belfast Stories is all about sharing stories from people who have lived in and visited Belfast, in the past and present. Stories will be told in many different ways – interactive, audio-visual, musical, printed – and in ways that have yet to be imagined.
The creative hub will feature a story-gathering initiative, designed to deliver an ever-developing programme of activities both inside and outside the building, where stories gathered and made are shaped, stored and shared.
“The concept is driven by the belief that, by telling these authentic stories of the people of Belfast, we will tell the story of the city – in the richest possible detail,” said Eimear Henry, creative and strategic lead at Belfast Stories.
“These stories will show the world how much we value our city and our people.”
The design team supporting Belfast Stories includes a partnership between Oslo-based architects Snøhetta, the firm responsible for designing the Oslo Opera House and the 9/11 Memorial Pavilion in New York, and Belfast-based TODD Architects, who are leading on the architectural and structural design.
Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) is engaged to design the visitor experience, with Barker Langham in the role of curator and interpretation planner. RAA was appointed earlier this year, based on its international experience designing museum and narrative environments, including the Obama Presidential Centre, in Chicago, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, DC. Property and construction consultancy Gleeds is overseeing the project management.
“The project will regenerate this part of Belfast city centre, and we believe it has the potential to change how both residents and visitors interact with and navigate the city,” said Daniel Berlin, a senior architect at Snøhetta.
“It is a genuine privilege to be a working on such a transformational project, and collectively, we all have the opportunity to create a calling card for the city, internationally.”
The project is currently progressing through RIBA Stage 2 – Concept Design, a crucial milestone in the definitive eight-stage ‘Plan of Work’ model pioneered by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Engagement is a significant part of this stage, and, following an initial public consultation in 2022, Belfast City Council’s Belfast Stories team is now hosting a second public consultation, to ensure that everyone can have his/her/their say on the project.
The Belfast Stories public consultation will run for 14 weeks, until 23 February 2025.
