News Release Page Title

8 February 2006

SHANKILL MILL SITE IS TO GET £5M REDEVELOPMENT

The Department for Social Development has announced its preferred developer to transform the former Lawnbrook Mill site off Belfast's Shankill Road.

The Brownfield site will be redeveloped by ADH (NI) to provide much needed private homes, which is a welcome development for the local community. Social Development Minister David Hanson MP said:

"This is a good example of how the release of derelict land and property can help regenerate disadvantaged areas. My Department, through its Belfast Regeneration Office, has been able to assemble and market this major site and has now attracted exciting development proposals. The need to restore confidence in and reinvigorate areas such as the Shankill is one of the key messages that I have been hearing in my current round of engagements in Protestant areas.

"This site will be developed to provide 64 homes and this significant investment will transform the local environment and strengthen the sense of community in the Shankill by encouraging people to stay and attracting others into the area."

In support of Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy, Belfast Regeneration Office is committed to continue to use its physical development powers to help unlock further development opportunities and to tackle physical dereliction in Belfast, with the aim of improving the quality of life of people who live and work there.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. The Department for Social Development has statutory responsibility for urban regeneration. These statutory powers are exercised in the public interest by the Department to assist in the acquisition and assembly of lands for the purpose of development which will make best use of such land. Typically the Department will intervene to assist in the regeneration of rundown or underused land and property.

  2. The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy 'People and Place' was published in June 2003 to close the gap between the quality of life for people in the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of society.

  3. The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy has four interlinking strategic objectives:

    • Community Renewal - to develop confident communities that are able and committed to improving the quality of life in their areas.

    • Economic Renewal - to develop economic activity in the most deprived neighbourhoods and connect them to the wider urban economy.

    • Social Renewal - to improve social conditions for the people who live in the most deprived neighbourhoods through better co-ordinated public services and the creation of safer environments.

    • Physical Renewal - to help create attractive, safe and sustainable environments in the most deprived neighbourhoods.

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