As the largest city of Northern Ireland, Belfast has attracted extensive real estate investment in recent years. With this trend set to continue, Belfast City Council (BCC) and five other regional councils have strong ambitions for inclusive and sustainable growth.
The first community plan, The Belfast Agenda, was published in 2017 and set an ambitious target of attracting 66,000 people to live and work in the city centre, further to 31,600 additional homes by 2035. The region is also benefiting from the 2021 Belfast Region City Deal (BRCD), a bespoke package of funding and decision-making powers negotiated between central government and the six local councils.
This is aimed at harnessing additional investment, creating new jobs, and accelerating inclusive economic growth.
Maximising value and impact
Useful Projects was commissioned by BCC’s ‘Renewed Ambition Programme’ (RAP) to better understand the wider economic, social, and environmental impact resulting from real estate development, and to provide clear recommendations to help BCC and BRCD partners ensure maximum value and impact is realised for future developments.
The key objectives for this project included:
- Reviewing what has been achieved in the past five years, exploring local case studies across the real estate asset classes and conducting a policy review.
- Assessing what best practice looks like across five international case studies as well as performing a framework review.
- Looking ahead to provide recommendations for policy interventions and considering other enablers for improved economic, social, and environmental benefits, with a framework for measurement.
The recommendations arising from the ‘Building Impact’ report will help ensure that future real estate investments deliver wider inclusive growth and sustainable development outcomes for the region.
