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Developers behind the controversial Tribeca Belfast plans have made extensive changes following a backlash from the public.

The £500m urban regeneration scheme is on a 12-acre site located beside St Anne’s Cathedral bounded by Royal Avenue, Donegall Street, Lower Garfield Street and Rosemary Street.

The campaign group Save CQ was set up when the initial Royal Exchange redevelopment proposal was put forward.

Members argued those plans would have a huge impact on the Cathedral Quarter, one of Belfast’s most vibrant, historic and culturally significant areas.

They objected to the number of buildings earmarked for demolition to be replaced by offices, retail units and a tower block, displacing current tenants and changing the face and character of the city centre.

Now, Castlebrooke Investments has launched a voluntary ten week public consultation process, which comes ahead of the submission of the proposal in Autumn 2019, revealing a series of positive amendments to the outline planning application for Tribeca Belfast.

This includes a commitment to bring North Street Arcade back into use in a new format, with space designed for independent retailers.

The height of the Grade A office block on the corner of Rosemary Street and North Street, which was initially intended to be 27 storeys, has now been reduced to 10 storeys. There is also an increased allowance for green spaces, courtyards and residential space in line with the Belfast Agenda.

The new plans incorporate a greater degree of retention of non-listed building fabric which they say further protects the streetscape.

A newly appointed team from architectural design firm Squire & Partners has worked alongside conservation architects from Belfast-based Consarc Design Group on the amendments.

On Monday, as the public consultation launched, Belfast Live went on a walking tour with Graeme Moore, Specialist Conservation Architect at Consarc Conservation, around the North Street and Donegall Street area of the plans.

Mr Moore, who has been involved in plans for the area for 11 years, said the developer had taken on board the points objectors and interested parties had raised over the initial plans.

"Those for a lot of the objectors were the tall building, which has now been completely reconsidered it is much smaller in scale, they have listened to the extent of retention, they are retaining all of the listed buildings as they would have been but there's also now a lot more retention of non-listed buildings within the conservation area," he said.

"The anchor store has gone, that is more an issue with how the retail world has changed, but what that also means is the knock-on effect of that is the basement car park has also been omitted, which will please an awful lot of people.

"There is lots more retention, the tall building is gone and the basement car park is gone, the uses are very different in that there's a lot more residential, there's genuine mixed uses of offices, residential, retail. There is more public realm space, there are open spaces. They have listened to the comments of people and have tried to incorporate as many of those things as possible.

"They have actually gone right back to the drawing board, literally, in that they have appointed a new architect in Squire and Partners, so they have brought fresh eyes to it.

"Also North Street Arcade gets reinstated which will be fantastic for that connectivity across the city."

Earlier this month the developers said they believed that the changes made addressed many of the areas of concern which have been raised to date.

Save CQ said last month that members were "cautiously optimistic" that some real progress is being made.

Agustina Martire, Acting Chair of the Save CQ campaign said: "Both Castlebrooke and their new architects have responded positively to us in terms of the local economy, housing, heritage, public space and accessibility, however sufficient arts and culture provision within the proposed redevelopment remains a real concern."

Talking about the proposals, Mr Moore said connectivity was an important point and that the new plans would help people navigate the city in a simple way.

"Historically people have been able to come through from Royal Avenue on Lower Garfield Street and then you are faced with this wall in North Street," he said.

"So since the arcade has been closed due to the fire under previous owners, you then had to walk up to Church Street or down to Waring Street.

"So really, one of the big drivers behind the scheme was to create this connectivity through so there's the arcade, there's a new alleyway beside Braddell's and then there's the new long lane which will link to the cathedral, so there's three completely new routes which will connect across the Cathedral Quarter.

"It is really to take out what is a very big block in the city centre due to problems with vacancy but it will open that up with lots more routes across."

He said that as conservation architects, they had been able to understand the public's concerns with the previous plans but he was confident the changes would go down well.

Talking about the plans for Writer's Square, he added: "We have always seen Writer's Square as working very well for an event, on Culture Night or during the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, but on a day to day basis on a random afternoon during the week it is a space that doesn't really work and we feel that is because it doesn't have the activity at ground floor level.

"The new scheme reduces Writer's Square, it makes it more intimate, but we have to remember that there wasn't a square there historically, it used to be buildings right along Donegall Street.

"It is a more intimate square, but the key to it is that there will be active uses at the ground floor, cafes and restaurants and retail units, that will hopefully activate the square."

DATES AND TIMES FOR TRIBECA BELFAST PUBLIC EXHIBITION

Location

Former Mackeys Opticians unit, 6-8 North Street, Belfast, BT1 1LA.

Dates

TUESDAY 30th July, 9am - 2pm

WEDNESDAY 31st July, 10am - 6pm

THURSDAY 1st August, 3pm - 8pm

TUESDAY 6th August, 9am - 2pm

WEDNESDAY 7th August, 2pm - 6pm

Further dates available on request.

Site walking tours also available

TUESDAY 6th August

THURSDAY 8th August

TUESDAY 13th August

THURSDAY 15th August

To register for the walking tours, leave feedback and find out more information please visit: www.tribeca-belfast.co.uk

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