This critical segment of Belfast’s waterfront could play a key role in connecting major tourism and economic assets. It extends from the end of the slipways at Victoria Wharf to Alexandra Wharf and Dock, home to HMS Caroline. There is a popular but narrow pedestrian and cycle path running north-south along the river. The path is vegetated on its riverside but ends abruptly at a large, paved tarmac area used primarily for parking, but has great potential for an activated promenade and welcoming arrival point to Alexandra Wharf.
With much of the open space on Queen’s Island designated for development, Harbour Park is an opportunity to provide a natural waterfront giving a much needed recreational and ecological resource for the city.
There is an opportunity to soften and naturalise the hard edges of the existing riverbank and create a sizeable linear park connecting Catalyst Innovation Centre and Thompson Dock with Titanic Belfast and the wider city. By bringing back native plants, the shoreline could become a healthier habitat for local wildlife, as well as a place people can enjoy and learn from. Piloting a small café and seating would further animate this area.
Belfast Harbour is home to a colony of seals who mostly reside out of sight at the tip of Queen’s Island. Creating an artificial island using repurposed material would attract the seal population while maintaining a safe viewing distance from Harbour Park.
Harbour Park is an opportunity to include a natural waterfront in the urban capital. With much of the open space on Queen’s Island designated for development, opportunities for people to access green, recreational space will be reduced. With an already rugged engineered shoreline there is an opportunity to further naturalize and create a linear park connecting Catalyst Innovation Centre and Thompson Dock with Titanic Belfast and the wider city. A softened living shoreline would provide social and environmental benefits
to the waterfront and a much needed recreational and ecological resource for the city.
Harbour Seals hauled out
Dinner at sunset at Reffen in Copenhagen
Hammocks on Governors Island in New York
Fritz Hedges Park restored shoreline in Seattle
Barangaroo Reserve is a former industrial site in Sydney
