Belfast Stores: a vision for inclusivity and growth
by Allan LEONARD
13 February 2025
Organised by NICVA, about 20 members of the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector toured the landmark art-deco former Bank of Ireland building at the top of Royal Avenue, to learn more about Belfast City Council’s Belfast Stories, a project that will be a public space, visitor attraction, and creative hub, with a vision of enhancing the city’s international reputation and growing the local creative industry. This was one of many tours as part of a public consultation by the city council.
The tour guide was Wendy Langham (Belfast City Council), who provided insight into the building’s history, including architectural details and significant historical anecdotes, along with an overview of the project’s goals, the contributions of various stakeholders, and the broader context and impact anticipated for the local economy and community.
The tour started with a walk outside the former Bank of Ireland building, a landmark rich in history and architectural beauty, as Langham explained:
“This bank, modelled on the Empire State Building, opened in 1930. Interestingly, the Empire State Building opened a year later, in 1931. So, they must have copied us!”
The tour continued with a clockwise walk around the block. Langham stopped at the panel of painted boards that spell out the letters of Belfast Stories, and explained that each are taken from a Belfast brand. For example, the first letter “s” is from Sawers (pronounced SAW-ers), “r” is from Broadway Cinema, and the “e” is from Young Savage vintage shop.
The outdoor walk continued onto Union Street, where there are a few meanwhile uses, such as an urban garden project. Langham informed the participants that the whole project site is 5,000 square metres, with the Bank of Ireland building representing 6% of the footprint:
“Our goal is to create a generous public space for the city, with an outdoor area on the ground floor and a rooftop urban garden. This space will be accessible to both locals and visitors, serving as a mixing room where everyone feels welcome.”
At the core of Belfast Stories is the mission to collect, curate, and share the narratives of the city. Langham discussed the initiatives underway to gather stories from various sources, including former bank employees and local residents:
“We’re gathering stories across the city and piloting our story collection process. We’ve started talking to people who used to work in the building. Those personal stories add a unique layer to the project’s narrative.”
The project also collaborates with organisations like Northern Ireland Screen, to provide access to a vast archive of TV and film content, enriching the storytelling experience.
Belfast Stories aims to be a model of sustainability. With a budget of approximately £100m, the project incorporates various sustainable practices to ensure long-term environmental and social benefits:
“We have a net zero ambition. We’ll utilise sustainable drainage systems, rooftop gardens, and various other eco-friendly technologies to meet our sustainability goals.”
The project is directed towards brining significant economic benefits to the city. Langham made the case that by attracting visitors and encouraging longer stays, Belfast Stories will generate millions in gross value added per annum, supporting local businesses and creating jobs.
Langham also said that engagement with the local community is a cornerstone of Belfast Stories, with its project team continually seeking input from local residents and stakeholders, to ensure the space meets the needs and expectations of the community. Here, she asked the tour participants for direct feedback:
“Would you come here? Would you bring visitors? Is this a place you would be proud of? Your input helps us design a space that truly belongs to Belfast.”
This collaborative approach, as Langham described, extends to the design and construction phases as well. She informed the participants that an international design competition was held to appoint the integrated design team, ensuring that both local expertise and global best practices are incorporated into the project.
But Langham said that Belfast Stories is more than just a development project; it’s a celebration of the city’s rich history and vibrant future. As she explained it, by combining community spaces, visitor attractions, and sustainability initiatives, the project aims to create a landmark that Belfast can be proud of for generations to come.
Langham concluded the tour section of the event by remarking that Belfast City Council and the Belfast Stories team remain committed to engaging with the community, gathering feedback, and ensuring that the final outcome reflects the collective aspirations of the city. She also encouraged the participants to lend their voice “to the ongoing conversation about Belfast Stories”.
The tour participants relocated to a reception space across the street at Cathedral Quarter workspace, for some heat and refreshments before sitting at tables for a conversation.
Wendy Langham introduced Brenda Kent, part of the consultancy group Smith & Kent, who explained her role in the consultation process. She described her engagement with various underrepresented sectors, to ensure their voices are included in the project:
“We are working along with the Belfast Stories team to do engagement in sectors that are less likely to engage [and] people of all ages, ethnicities, and those with disabilities.”
Langham highlighted the importance of inclusive storytelling and the need to ensure that everyone’s story is heard and valued:
“We are, as a team and as Belfast City Council, committed to making this as accessible and welcoming place as possible… to make sure that we get all voices as far as possible, at each stage of the project heard, not just by us but by our design team.”
The conversation moved to how the Belfast Stories project connects with other Belfast City Council strategies as well as those of Northern Ireland Executive departments. Langham said how the council’s regeneration and investment strategy identified the need for a significant visitor attraction in the city centre, which Belfast Stories aims to fulfil.
But parking for the site is part of another of the council’s strategies, working alongside the Department for Infrastructure, as Langham explained:
“We are not building parking at Belfast Stories… We have to rely on the parking strategy across the city.”
She mentioned the importance of sustainable transport solutions and the need to work with various stakeholders to ensure seamless access to the site. The conversation also touched on the balance between pedestrianising parts of the city and maintaining access for all users.
One participant asked:
“How do we connect those people into the project, in terms of making them feel like it’s part of their space? So, it isn’t just the tourists… the nice food that [local communities] might not have money in their pockets to buy.”
Langham replied that, firstly, Belfast Stories is a tourism and economic driver project, while also wanting to ensure that local communities and local people benefit. In this regard, she said that they think they are maximising the opportunity for social impact from this project. Langham remarked that they are focused on communities adjacent to the site first, in terms of how they could benefit; she cited work with Carrick Hill and Lower Shankill neighbourhoods.
Another participant asked a similar question about the relationship between community benefit and Belfast Stories:
“We’re all old enough to remember whenever they built The MAC and it was going to be this fantastic hub. But the basement flooded, the façade cracked, they didn’t get enough funding… Who’s upkeeping? Because we’re all great for this big sort of gesture, but how will this be maintained, rather than become a white elephant? These places shut down certain parts that were public and then they become more private… ‘It’s a bookable space, it’s a meeting room, you’re not allowed there anymore.’ Because a lot of community organisations wouldn’t necessarily have their own meeting space or somewhere nice and creative to meet.”
In response, several mentioned the Belfast City Council owned venue, 2 Royal Avenue, as an easily accessible and suitable meeting place. Langham replied that Belfast Stories will not “destroy something that’s working”, but complement what is already here.
Langham further clarified the relationship between Belfast Stories and local communities:
“Our business model is built on out-of-state and [other] visitors coming to spend more time and ultimately more money in the city. That’s why our consumer testing across all the markets is about: ‘Why would people come to the city? Why would they come to Belfast? Why would they come to Belfast Story?’ The visitor attraction has to work, because that is the economic driver and the support for our financial model. The other elements — the public space and the creative hub — will be supported by the income generated from the visitor attraction.
“We look at sustainability in the broad sense, in terms of how does this benefit communities, what is the social impact, and what is the social value of Belfast Stories. Also, how do we do less harm through the environmental and our sustainability options for the net zero exemplar. And then, how do we make sure that we have an operating model where, hopefully, the profits that we generate are actually used to sustain Belfast Stories in the round.”
Wendy Langham concluded that what Belfast Stories becomes “might not be what you saw in there today”, and is why they stopped in their concept design phase because of the positive and negative feedback they learned in the last two months of conversations across the city:
“We’ve learned. Belfast Stories will evolve. Do not think what you see, that is it. Because it may look very different whenever we open in 2030.”
The participants were encouraged to follow the project’s progress via social media (Facebook and Instagram) and submit their thoughts and views via an online survey.
The current public consultation on Belfast Stories ends on 23 February 2025.