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Contents. Initial thoughts and questions for a new research project:Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday/ Belfast Agreement Two paradigms - the ?old' and the ?new' Northern IrelandNeoliberalism and Northern IrelandTwo Belfast case studies: Crumlin Road Gaol/ Girdwood Barracks and Titanic
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1. Putting the working class in their place? Redevelopment and territory in the new Belfast
Jenny Muir
Housing Studies Association conference
Cardiff
15th - 17th April
2. Contents Initial thoughts and questions for a new research project:
Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday/ Belfast Agreement
Two paradigms - the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ Northern Ireland
Neoliberalism and Northern Ireland
Two Belfast case studies: Crumlin Road Gaol/ Girdwood Barracks and Titanic Quarter
Observations from the case studies
Conclusions
3. Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday/ Belfast Agreement (1) Governance:
GFA - Power-sharing Assembly, four main parties in government
GFA - Provision for all-Ireland referendum on reunification
GFA - North – South Ministerial Council; British – Irish Council; locks NI into wider institutional relationships
Assembly suspended October 2002 – May 2007 BUT devolved structures continued under ‘Direct Rule’ Ministers
St Andrews Agreement (2006):
Support for policing and the courts from all parties; Executive responsibility
Assembly restored May 2007 with DUP/ Sinn Féin main parties
Review of Public Administration:
Councils will be reduced from 26 to 11; health, education & library service bodies being rationalised; housing affected marginally; community planning for councils
4. Northern Ireland since the 1998 GoodFriday/ Belfast Agreement (2) Economic issues:
GDP p.c. increases:1.8% in 1998; 3.0% 2007; predicted -1.5% 2009 (UK overall predicted -3.0%)
Unemployment: 8.1% in 1998; 3.8% 2007; Nov 2008 – Jan 2009: 5.7% (UK average 6.5%)
Costs of segregation have been up to £1.5bn
Reinvestment & Reform Initiative (PFI for infrastructure);
Rates revaluation; attempt to introduce water rates (now omitted from Barnett Formula)
Social issues:
Residential segregation and separate education still widespread
Residual conflict in ‘interface’ areas
Poverty higher than rest of UK
Fringe paramilitary activity still evident
5. Northern Ireland: two paradigms
6. 2008 Programme for Government: illustration of priorities
7. Is Northern Ireland becoming more neoliberal? Characteristics of neoliberalism:
Deregulation of economic transactions
Private finance, privatisation
Commodification and primacy of market mechanisms
Use of market proxies in the state sector
International policy transfer
State intervention ‘rolled back’ to focus on support for capital
‘Rolling out’ new forms of governance and social control
Welfare costs transferred to the individual and to ‘communities’
The ‘new’ NI paradigm:
More of 2,3,5,6,7,8 – but also directly elected regional Assembly
A different neoliberalism? Convergence with rest of UK?
8. Case study 1: Crumlin Road Gaol/ Girdwood Barracks site
9. Crumlin Girdwood timeline 1996: Crumlin Road Gaol closed
2001: Belfast Regeneration Office economic appraisal - gaol site only
2002: Dunlop Report in response to Holy Cross events:
Proposal for a ‘large scale physical regeneration project… any potential development should be created and maintained as neutral space’ (p.83)
Wider feasibility study proposed, but not including the Barracks
North Belfast Community Action Unit established
2003: Gaol ownership transferred to OFMDFM as part of Reinvestment and Reform Initiative (PFI); 2005 feasibility study
2005: Barracks closure announced and site acquired by DSD 2006
2006: (Direct Rule) Ministerial Advice Panel established; consultation
2007: draft Masterplan – consultation continues, no agreement on housing; Gaol refurbishment proceeding separately
2008: Residents’ Jury held by Participation and Practice of Rights Project
10. Crumlin/ Girdwood summary 27 acre site
New shared ‘heartspace’ in the centre of the site (community hub)
Leisure facilities
Gaol site: refurbishment, museum, hotel – tourism link to privately owned Courthouse
New facilities for local hospital and school
New access road (contentious)
Mixed tenure housing (contentious)
3 other major development sites
Cost £231m; add £68m if no housing for sale in phase 1
11. Crumlin Girdwood issues Draft Masterplan 2007 – no progress early 2009 except Gaol refurbishment, supported by all
Redevelopment is in the most deprived and divided part of Belfast but needs to attract private investment
Site is owned by two government departments and the nearby Courthouse by a private developer - school and hospital redevelopments funded and planned separately
No agreement on housing – Protestants want none; Catholics want social housing; draft Masterplan suggests mixed tenure housing
Mixed tenure housing seen as proxy for ‘mixed’ housing – impractical given the area
Access road potential to create new interface
12. Case study 2: Titanic Quarter
13. Titanic Quarter location (2)
14. Titanic Quarter timeline 1990: Site development potential first identified
2000: Odyssey Arena opened – Millennium Project
2000: Site renamed Titanic Quarter
2001: Work starts on site preparation and Masterplan
2002: Lease signed for Science Park
2003: Outline planning application submitted for Phase 1
2005: Site lease bought by Harcourt Developments from Fred Olsen shipping co. – freehold owned by Belfast Harbour Commissioners
2005: Masterplan and Development Framework issued
2006: Planning permission granted for phase 1 residential and office
2007: Construction begins on phase 1; outline permission granted for phase 2 which includes social housing
2009: Construction begins on Signature Project
15. Titanic Quarter summary Phase 1:
475 apartments & marina
Gateway office building
Belfast Metropolitan College
New Public Records Office
Phase 2 (outline):
Titanic Signature project (for 2012 anniversary)
Approx. 2000 apartments including 15% social/ affordable housing
Leisure & industrial park
Small-scale retail
Hotel
Private funding and public agency investment
16. Titanic Quarter issues Credit crunch and economic crisis:
Fall in value of Phase 1 flats bought off plan
Finding office tenants
Cash flow
(Part) Solution: public investment brought forward – Signature Project, Public Records office, college
Community links:
Previously industrial site – no ‘community’ to consult
Links with East Belfast Partnership and Belfast Titanic Society
Social housing:
Will raise question of territory – TQ prefer LCHO
17. Observations from the case studies (Re)Presenting and commodifying history as key part of each development, with public support
Territorial issues:
Crumlin/ Girdwood – is ‘shared space’ realistic in such a divided area? – perhaps yes without housing, but there is housing need
Titanic Quarter – shared space taken for granted
Shared space may be gained at the expense of excluding those who need social housing
Role of public sector more substantial than plans suggest:
Crumlin/ Girdwood: PFI for gaol redevelopment; hospital, school
TQ: Signature project, college (PFI), Public Records Office
18. Conclusions Northern Ireland has changed considerably since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement
Some aspects of the ‘new’ Northern Ireland have public support e.g. policing - but there is no new hegemonic direction overall and the NI Assembly has been slow to respond to the economic downturn
Urban regeneration case studies are appropriate to examine this phenomenon because they are:
Complex urban environments undergoing rapid change
Often with dedicated governance structures
Usually with high level of community involvement
It appears likely that the new paradigm will create new territorial divisions by class, to add to continuing working class sectarian divisions