Slide 1 intro to our project

Recent years have seen major investment into developments around the harbor and
former shipyards of north Belfast. These include the Titanic quarter, which contains
large number of luxury condominiums and the Titanic Museum, and the City Quays,
which is a commercial office complex. Additionally, Ulster University is constructing
their new main campus on the northern edge of the city center, which will bring in
nearly 15,000 students. Though these developments create a large potential for the
city of Belfast, they remain isolated from each other and the city center by the
existence of the Lagan Bridge Overpass, which is part of the M2/M3 highway
network.

Our proposal seeks to mitigate this barrier, with two intended consequences:
connecting the developments around harbor and former shipyard to the city center,
which will allow the city center to expand and incorporate the valuable areas around
the water. Second, it will recover some of the lots lost by the creation of the
highway network in 1998, which will relieve some of the growing demand office and
retail space.

Slide 2 Problem

This maps illustrates the lots that were lost due to the creation of the Westlink
Highway, and the M2/M3. These are known as shatter zones. The highways and
their entrance/exit ramps either destroyed the existing fabric or isolated the lots so
they fell into disuse. These areas current sit as vacant lots or surface level parking.

The shatter zones create a ring of under-utilized space around the city, which
isolates it from the surrounding parts of the city. A major shatter zone area is the
York street interchange and Lagan River Overpass, which is at the boundary
between the city center and harbor. This will be the focus of our proposal.

Slide 3- Site level description

A close-up of the York Street interchange and Lagan River Overpass show the
shatter zones. This amounts to 13 hectares just around the highway. With the new
developments and investments that Belfast is seeing, these lots provide valuable
space that can be used to fill the commercial and retail demands in the city.

As we walked around the areas during our trip to Belfast, we saw just how
devastating the highways were to the urban fabric of the area first hand. In addition
to destroying the grid system and the neighborhood of Sailortown that was once
there, the highways and parking lots made the area very difficult for pedestrians to
traverse.

Slide 4 Economic Gap

Jeff can use his script for the office supply/demand here

Slide 5 enhanced connections

 An aerial view highlighting the details of our proposal to connect the harbor
to the city center and to make use of the shatter zones around the highways
The Red shows major developments the Titanic Quarter, City Quays, and
Uluster University, which has several new buildings being planned.
The green lines show potential pedestrian corridors between the city center,
the harbor, and along the River Lagan.
o The aim is to make movement between these areas easier, which will
allow them to be seen as part of the city of Belfast. This will
additionally allow the new developments to be more accessible and
desirable places for the residents of Belfast.
The Blue shows the potential shatter zones that could be reclaimed for
development.
This will reestablish a grid system in that area and connect these areas
together.

Slide 6 Conceptual reclaiming

The reclaiming of shatter zones will allow the city center to expand outwards,
incorporating the river and harbor into the city.

Slide 7 current fabric

Schematic of our focus area of the city

The highway and vacant lots around it can be seen, as well as the disrupted
grid network that once was there.

Slide 8 conceptualizing the future

This is a conceptualization of the effects of enhancing the corridors through

under the overpass
The reestablishment of a grid eases movement
It also allows for the shatter zones to be reclaimed for development

Slide 9 11 Rendering of enhanced corridors

Possibility of what an enhanced corridor could look like.

Mimics the streetscape of Belfast city center, which provides an attractive
place for residents to spend time.
The reclaiming of the shatter zones will allow for the development of needed
office space. This will allow reduce the negative impact the construction of
the highway had on the city fabric
Additionally, the areas under the overpasses have a potential for the creation
of public and community space.