Albion Street

Proposed social housing accommodation consisting of 7 No. townhouses and 11 No.apartments of DSD Regeneration site on Sandy Row, Belfast.

Issues Encountered

• Planning Service initial insistence on the inclusion of commercial units on the groundfloor of the proposed development.

Our Involvement

We became involved in this project following submission of the planningapplication when feedback from the planners indicated that they would not accept theprinciple of a wholly residential proposal on site and they were minded to refuse theapplication if it were not to include commercial units at ground floor level. Inclusion ofcommercial units and loss of residential units would have rendered the project unviable.

We carried out land-use research and commented on the area plan andpolicy requirements building a strong case in favour of an entirely residential scheme. We also galvanised local cross party political and community support forthe proposal and this support was expressed to teh Department via several face to facemeetings and in writing.

Planning permission for a wholly residential development was achieved.