Connswater Retail Park: New Life in Old Belfast Ulster Architect, September 1997Over 100 years ago before the Belfast City boundaries stretched beyond the Connswater River, East Belfast was a bustling manufacturing centre anchored by Belfast Ropeworks which employed upwards of 4,000 people in its heyday. With the decline of industry and the closure of the Ropeworks, the area rapidly lost its significance, and only the redbrick terraces that once housed East Belfast workers surrounding the vast, deteriorating warehouses and buildings remained.
The construction of Connswater Shopping Centre in 1984 followed by the Connswater Retail Park nearly a decade later breathed new life into the area, and now Phase Three of the project is set to begin with the construction of four new retail outlets scheduled to be completed in April, 1998.
The huge tract of land that once housed the Belfast Ropeworks was converted to an Industrial Estate and later sold to Lamont Deramore in 1996. Construction of the Retail Park, which abuts the Shopping Centre on the banks of the Connswater River proceeded rapidly. Phase One and Two of the project involved the construction of the four large units that now house the Sports Division, Textile World, Laser Electronics, McDonalds, the American Golf Store and Ulster Bank and a soon to be opened Bingo Hall.
All of the buildings are in keeping with the red brick structures that characterised the area, and despite the 1990s design, oddly enough have managed to blend ascetically with the older structures that remain. While the last phase actually straddles the Connswater River, shoppers can still walk along side the old tow path and cross a wooden bridge connecting the shopping centre to the retail park.
But by far the most prominent structure, a clear span 2,000 square foot warehouse, will soon be home to a Bingo Hall with a seating capacity of 1,500 operated by Gala Clubs, a subsidiary of Bass Plc. Gala Clubs currently operates 130 clubs in total in Great Britain, and are awaiting licensing in Northern Ireland. Once the license has been approved (probably sometime in January 1998), approximately £2 million will be spent fitting the now empty warehouse into a bingo hall.
This final phase involves four new units with the tenants yet to be announced. These will be constructed adjacent to the Bingo Hall and across the river from the already occupied units of the Retail Park. While managing agents McCombe, Pierce and Partners are keeping possible tenants under wraps, they promise "An amazing place with very exciting users." Once this final phase is completed, industrial East Belfast may well become the new retail heartland of the next century.
Architects: W. D. R. & E. T. Taggert Main Contractor: GA (NI) Ltd