Northern Ireland Economic Growth and Development Conference

Bywater Properties – Patrick O’Gorman, Principal

Bywater Properties deliver world-class urban projects throughout the UK. As well as having major developments in Glasgow and London, the property developer is currently working in consultation with Belfast City Council on two major regeneration projects. The 35DP redevelopment will see 30,000 sq ft of office space, whilst the Smithfield Yard regeneration is set to cost roughly £60m and will deliver a 170,000 sq ft mixed use campus.

Belfast City Council – Cathy Reynolds, Director of Regeneration and Development

The Belfast City Centre Regeneration and Investment Strategy outlines an exciting vision and forms a blueprint for a range of regeneration projects set to overhaul the city over the coming years. The strategy outlines Belfast’s collective ambition for continued growth and regeneration up until 2030. There are three major schemes totalling just under £3bn worth of work, these include the Inner North West Masterplan, The Linen Quarter Vision and Belfast East Bank Development Strategy. Cathy joins us to provide an update to Belfast’s leading regeneration work.

Northern Ireland Housing Executive – Robert Clements, Sustainable Development Manager

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive is the strategic housing authority for Northern Ireland. It owns around 84,000 homes – the majority of the province’s social housing stock. The Housing Executive work in consultation with housing associations across the region to deliver affordable housing and maintain their property, offering a £455m public sector work contract last year for the latter. Work is currently ongoing to assess the level of investment is needed for maintenance and development over the next 30 years with a £7.1bn figure calculated by Savills in 2018. A new figure will bring into account the costs associated with building safety and decarbonisation costs.

Clanmil Housing Group – Carol McTaggart, Group Director of Development

Clanmil Housing Group is a registered housing association that has over 5000 units of accommodation ranging from family homes and housing for the elderly to supported housing and group housing for Irish Travellers. The housing group are responsible for a number of developments across the country including a £2.7 million regeneration project in Derry City Centre and the 53-home New Ardilea Street Development that has received over £7.4 million in investment.

Titanic Quarter – James Eyre, Commercial Director

The Titanic Quarter is Northern Ireland’s biggest regeneration project, comprising of 185 acres of waterfront land. Since the launch of the Titanic Quarter masterplan in 2005, the development has come to life with major residential, commercial, tourism and education schemes, modernising Belfast’s waterfront and former shipbuilding lands. The group has overseen over £480m worth of development projects spanning over 1.5 million square feet with further planning approved for a further 4 million square feet that will see new developments such as the £30 million Olympic House and the £30 million Hamilton Dock Hotel.

VU.CITY – Charlotte Bowen, Business Development Manager

Charlotte McCarthy is a Business Development Manager at VU.CITY. Charlotte is leading business development for VU.CITY in Dublin and Belfast.

VU.CITY is a game-changing solution for urban development teams. Speeding up all aspects of the planning process from design concept stage right through to planning application submissions.

Their accurate 3D city models allow for collaborative and virtual feasibility and impact studies for proposed developments across 30+ cities in the UK and internationally.

Charlotte has previous experience in the built environment in Facilities Management, PropTech, and Placemaking.

Benmore Group – Kevin McKay, Chairman

Benmore Group is a Northern Ireland based investment and development organisation that specialises in urban regeneration across the commercial and residential property sectors. The property group have recently completed the first phase of their King’s Hall Health and Wellbeing Park project, working in a joint venture with Octopus Real Estate to deliver the £100m Belfast-based development.

Public Sector Plc – Leena Gillespie, Commercial Director

PSP is a specialist strategic asset manager, creating commercial partnerships with local authorities and other public sector bodies to add value to land and property assets by bringing expertise, resources, and innovative project funding to provide end-to-end delivery services.  They deliver strategic asset management projects on public owned land and assets across the full spectrum of real estate with an emphasis on socio-economic benefits for our partners and community. With 21 partnerships established with UK public sector bodies since 2010, the business is appointed on OJEU compliant frameworks to support delivery of our end-to-end service to public sector organisations outside the PSP partnership framework. PSP is working with a number of public and private sector organisations in Northern Ireland to identify how we can support regeneration, climate change, employment and placemaking. We’re excited to be part of the debate today and looking forward to 2022, establishing partnerships and a team across Ireland to deliver a broad range of projects including decarbonisation, residential, retail and commercial, as well as long-term portfolio and asset management.

Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council – David Burns, Chief Executive

Despite the challenges brought with Coronavirus, Lisburn and Castlereagh Council are pushing forward with a range of major development projects over the coming years. The council recently approved planning permission to redevelop the Dundonald International Ice Bowl that will see the partial demolition of the site to make way for a new Olympic size ice rink. Elsewhere, the council have given the green light for a 332-home development in Castlereagh and a 507-home development in Lisburn.

Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) – Lisa O’Kane, Head of Investment, Performance & Improvement

The Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) is a council led representative body for local authorities in Northern Ireland. The organisation is supported by political parties, and independent members in councils, and works closely with other key regional authorities and stakeholders. NILGA develops, champions, and promotes local government by developing regional, all council, approaches to key issues affecting the sector.

Public Sector Plc – Mark Davis, Partnerships Director

PSP is a specialist strategic asset manager, creating commercial partnerships with local authorities and other public sector bodies to add value to land and property assets by bringing expertise, resources, and innovative project funding to provide end-to-end delivery services.  They deliver strategic asset management projects on public owned land and assets across the full spectrum of real estate with an emphasis on socio-economic benefits for our partners and community. With 21 partnerships established with UK public sector bodies since 2010, the business is appointed on OJEU compliant frameworks to support delivery of our end-to-end service to public sector organisations outside the PSP partnership framework. PSP is working with a number of public and private sector organisations in Northern Ireland to identify how we can support regeneration, climate change, employment and placemaking. We’re excited to be part of the debate today and looking forward to 2022, establishing partnerships and a team across Ireland to deliver a broad range of projects including decarbonisation, residential, retail and commercial, as well as long-term portfolio and asset management.

Ards and North Down Council – Susie McCullough, Director of Regeneration, Development & Planning

With over 60 rural regeneration projects recently delivered and a number of major capital projects planned – including the exciting £74m Bangor Waterfront Belfast Region City Deal Regeneration Scheme, the £50m private sector mixed-use redevelopment of Queen’s Parade, Bangor, and the major reimagining of Newtownards town centre to name a few – millions of pounds are being spent and significant opportunities exist for the built environment ecosystem. As part of the event, Susie will talk about the contrast between delivering regeneration in urban/rural areas compared to major metropolitan regions and will outline some of the schemes on which she is leading.

Invest NI – Alan Wilson, Head of International Investment

Invest NI is a part of the Department for the Economy that acts as a regional business development agency to help grow the local economy. They do this by helping new and existing businesses to compete internationally, and by attracting new investment to Northern Ireland. The agency also provides strong government support for business by effectively delivering the Government’s economic development strategies.

Mayfair Group – Bridgeen Boyd, Director of Social

Priva UK Limited – Adrian Scott, Business Development Manager Uk & Ireland

After training and working as a mechanical services engineer for 12 years, Adrian joined and trained with Satchwell Control Systems in 1996. Now in his 25th year in the Building Controls industry where he has also enjoyed working for Honeywell and Belimo. He is now in his 11th year with Priva UK, where he is Business Development Manager.

Triple Point Investment Management – Max Shenkman, Partner, Head Of Investment

Max joined Triple Point in 2011 and has worked on investments across our product range. He has nine years’ combined experience in, corporate finance, consultancy and venture capital and was previously a corporate finance associate at Lazard.

Max graduated from the University of Edinburgh.