Belfast, UNITED KINGDOM

Partnername	Location
Belfast City Council.	Country	United Kingdom
	Region	Northern Ireland
	City	Belfast

PHASE 1 Identification and selection of Giant's Park

Belfast City Council has a major waste landfill site which was the municipal waste site serving the greater metropolitan area of Belfast inhabited with a population of 650.000 citizens. It was closed in 2007 and the Council is preparing plans to redevelop the site to create new opportunities for economic and social developments that will bring significant benefits for the citizens of Belfast.

This 135 hectare site (Giant's Park), located 3 kilometres from the city centre, has been reclaimed from the Belfast Lough over a 30-year period. Since 1973 some 10 million tons of waste material has been dumped at the site. The average depth of the waste material is 20 metres. The EU waste and Environmental liability Directives, incorperated in UK legislation has made waste landfill unacceptable and established requirements to restore former sites to minimise environmental and human health risks. The waste landfill operations at Giant's Park stopped in March 2007. Today the Council is implementing site closure works involving consolidation and installing mineral capping and a gas extraction system producing electricity.

A master plan to have the site redeveloped and transformed has been established. It includes a 95 hectare public park where local residents can enjoy high quality leisure and recreational facilities in a shared-space neutral environment. On an adjoining 45 hectare site an Environmental Resource Recovery Park is planned. Giant’s Park is a € 62 million project with a phased completion beginning in 2010 and finishing in 2017.

The Giant's Park has been selected because the examination of environmental and human health risks has been completed. This has helped to identify the suitability of land uses for Giant's Park. Furthermore community consultations have been undertaken to assess development options and proposals. This has enabled the preparation of the Giant's Park Master Plan which establishes the development framework for the overall site.

Giant's Park Project has a range of stakeholders who have an interest in the redevelopment of the site such as Political Members, Government Departments, Voluntary Groups Royal Society for protection of birds, Business and Community interest and Private Sector Developers & Investors.

Nest steps for Giant's Park are:

Planning for enabling works
Guidelines for Developers site briefs
Managing ongoin stakeholder engagement
Marketing site branding and creating a new sense of place
Ensuring Community benefits.

Please find an animation video at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/giantspark