One of Northern Ireland’s leading private and social house builders, The Braidwater Group, has today confirmed it is moving ahead with a consultation process with plans for social and affordable housing on a significant 85 acre site on the Glen Road in Belfast, known as ‘Glenmona’.
An aerial view of the Glenmona site in West Belfast
Braidwater said today that its vision for Glenmona is to create a new mixed-use urban village with a variety of social and affordable housing, along with a mix of commercial and community facilities supported by extensive public transport linkages.
Situated on the western outskirts of the city, Glenmona comprises a substantial block of largely undeveloped land that benefits from outline planning consent for mixed use development including residential units, retail space, support/care homes, employment and educational uses.
The lands enjoy a gentle incline rising from the Glen Road towards the Upper Springfield Road resulting in much of the site having panoramic views over Belfast and beyond to open countryside including the Mourne Mountains.
Located in Eglinton and with operations throughout Northern Ireland, The Braidwater Group has over 40 years’ experience in the industry. The company currently has eight ‘live’ developments with close to 1,000 private and social homes in construction throughout Northern Ireland.
Glenmona cements The Braidwater Group’s presence in Belfast, with further plans to be revealed soon.
Braidwater will deliver a sustainable community through the provision of a mixed tenure residential development consisting of social housing for rent and affordable housing for first time buyers.
The overall concept is to create a development that is residential-led with a range of other land uses including employment, retail and other resources to help form a vibrant and successful living environment.
Vincent Bradley, development director of The Braidwater Group, said:
“We have the resources, experience and expertise to deliver a positive future for Glenmona. The Braidwater Group has a proven track record of bringing about the complex elements required to follow through on all commitments, planning requirements, social clauses and commercial developments. We will submit plans for approximately 650 new homes and estimate that we will obtain planning approval in September 2020. We would hope to commence building in late 2020.
“While we have had strong community engagement throughout the acquisition process, we will now initiate a more widespread stakeholder consultation process to ensure our plans are well understood and aligned to community needs. Glenmona will deliver social and affordable housing to meet extensive demand in the area and, once finished, it will support the creation of a large number of local jobs. “During the build process we will be bringing in new entrant trainees to work on site with us on apprenticeships.”
He added: “This is a large scale project and one which we are well placed to deliver on, having worked on similar scale sites in the past. We look forward to working with key stakeholders to bring forward plans for residential, office and mixed use space which will make up the Glenmona development.”
Apex Housing Association will be responsible for the management of the completed social rented homes and also provide affordable housing for sale to first time buyers or people who are currently not in home ownership.
Sheena McCallion, CEO of Apex Housing Association, said:
“We look forward to the completion of this development given the acute shortage of quality accommodation in this part of Belfast and the increasing number of families and singles in housing stress. Our partnership approach will deliver a sustainable community through the provision of a mixed tenure residential development including social housing for rent and affordable housing for sale to first time buyers. In particular those who cannot afford to purchase a new home outright can use Apex’s shared ownership product called Fairshare – www.fairshare.org.uk – to get on the housing ladder.”