Waterfront regeneration scheme, Northern Ireland
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Location: Bangor, Northern Ireland
- Area of study: 2.2 mile stretch of the seafront of Bangor
- Professional work | AECOM | 2019-2020
GENERAL CONTEXT
AECOM was commissioned by Ards and North Down Borough Council to prepare a development framework in partnership with Heminway Design, Jettora Consulting and Savills. For this to be developed AECOM used the integrated and evidence-led approach to masterplanning, also known as masterplanning ie. This approach is based on the input of a variety of disciplines within the company aiming to limit the risk of overlooked issues arising later in the design process. These disciplines are the masterplanning, town planning, transport, environment, heritage, landscape, civil engineering, sustainability, cost planning, economics and commerciality.
DESIGN PROCESS
The vision for the waterfront (see image below) was established from the very beginning and it was one of the key drivers throughout the design process. Being part of the masterplanning team, I conducted the urban analysis which was a result of a variety of elements. At first, the team conducted a site visit to get an understanding of the area and meet the locals who offered their views and ambitions regarding the regeneration.
After walking along the 2-mile stretch waterfront, the experience felt very interesting due to the diverse character and richness of nature. The design concept split the waterfront into these different rooms aiming to enhance and promote this diversity through a number of interventions. All these will eventually connect the waterfront as well as linking it with the city centre taking advantage of the existing assets.
The urban analysis of the site included observations coming from a variety of disciplines. An in-depth baseline identified a number of constraints and potential opportunities which were taken into account informing the design proposal. The latter included a series of low-key interventions aiming to improve the public realm as well as three larger-scale proposals.
PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION AND THOUGHTS
This was the first masterplan project I was assigned to. Masterplanning projects of this scale are complex due to their interdisciplinary nature. The input of each discipline informs the masterplanning exercise and the desing and puts us, the urban designers, responsible for translating and integrating the information into the design. This requires the development of analytical, design and organisational skills.
Communication is crucial during the whole process too. Having an on-going cooperation with the design lead, participating in workshops (over 100 participants), producing graphic material to support them and managing the information coming from the different disciplines helped me advance my skills.
Meeting professionals and understanding their mindset and design thinking was enlightening. Working along with the design lead gave me a good insight of his analytical and design skills, whilst working alongside the Wayne Hemingway team was inspirational.
Overall, this project gave me a good perspective of large-scale masterplans and their complexity.