10 January 2007
HANSON ANNOUNCES £23 MILLION PROJECT FOR LONDONDERRY CITY CENTRE
A £23 million mixed use development is to be constructed on the site of the former City Hotel in Foyle Street.
Announcing the development today, Social Development Minister David Hanson said:
“Thirty three years ago, the City Hotel, so well known in Londonderry, was destroyed in a bomb blast.
“After many years of lying derelict and under-used, I am delighted to announce my Department has selected Big Picture Developments Ltd, and their development partners, as the preferred developer for the regeneration of this key city centre site adjacent to the Guildhall.
“The development of this site will complete a comprehensive development scheme for the Foyle Street area initiated almost twenty years ago by Government, with the aim of encouraging private sector investment. That initiative has succeeded in delivering key projects such as the Foyleside Shopping Centre and Orchard House and is now completed with today’s announcement.
“Just as we have done in Belfast with Laganside and Victoria Square, Government has created the environment for investors to come to Derry and generate hundreds of new jobs for local people. For example, it is estimated that the Foyle Street development will provide 200 jobs in the construction industry and when completed, over 200 jobs in the retail and tourism sectors.”
Big Picture Developments Ltd was selected following an appraisal of nine submissions received in response to a development competition for the Foyle Street site last summer. Their scheme, involving a boutique hotel; apartments; restaurant; retail units and public inner courtyard, is expected to open by 2009 subject to obtaining planning permission and meeting all other statutory and due diligence requirements.
Mr Hanson said: “This is the first time that the Department’s North West Development Office has taken a design-led approach to selection of a development scheme for the historic city of Derry. The winning scheme sets a benchmark for future city centre development, as well as contributing to the economic vitality of the region. Big Picture’s proposal embraces the Department’s Urban Design Strategy for Derry (Heart of the City) and is an appropriate response to the Regeneration Plan for the city published by ILEX in December 2005.”
Commenting on the development, Big Picture Director, Barry Gilligan commented:
“We are delighted to have been selected by DSD for this very prestigious development. We have assembled an excellent team with strong national and international experience that we believe will deliver a very exciting and innovative new development to the Foyle Street site.
“We’re looking forward in the coming months to sitting down with community, business and political representatives to present and explain our plans, while at the same time moving ahead with the necessary agreements and permissions required to get started on site as soon as possible.”
Welcoming the announcement, the Mayor of Derry, Cllr Helen Quigley said: “Having seen the illustrations for the Foyle Street scheme, it is clear that the architects have taken account of the historic Guildhall setting and produced a design that is both respectful and complementary. I am also pleased that the development will enhance the city’s growing evening economy by generating more opportunities for city centre living and eating out.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. Big Picture Developments Ltd is a recently formed company headed up by former Chief Executive of Dunloe Ewart, Barry Gilligan. The company currently has four projects under construction or in the pipeline in Northern Ireland with a combined development value of £100 million. They include a £25 million hotel development at the former Crumlin Road Courthouse and a refurbishment of the historic Ormeau Bakery into a 156 loft style apartment complex.
2. The Development team for the Foyle Street site includes London-based urban design experts, Metropolitan Workshop and White Ink Architects from Belfast.
3. In use as a car park during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Foyle Street site was expected to be developed following an earlier development competition run by the then DOE’s Londonderry Development Office in 1996. A selected scheme failed to materialise and protracted legal action followed, before the Department recovered possession of the site in 2005.
4. Media enquiries to Paul McErlean on 028 9026 7099.
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