Belfast Harbour is Northern Ireland’s primary gateway to the rest of the world, and the 2,000-acre Harbour Estate is home to 760 businesses and a diverse community concentrated around Belfast’s waterfront. 

As a Trust Port, all profits generated are reinvested back into the port for the benefit of its customers, stakeholders and the development of Belfast Harbour. 

For generations, Belfast Harbour has been a core asset to the local economy, and in 2024 handled around 24.1 million tonnes of trade, with 1.7 million people travelling through the port on passenger ferries, as well as 145 cruise calls. 

A new mixed-use, residential-led development in the city centre including up to 600 new homes, commercial ground floor uses, a hotel/aparthotel, community uses, and new public open spaces. 

As part of the proposals, Belfast Harbour intend to deliver a range of tenure types including mixed market rents, alongside discount market rental integrated across the masterplan.

The development will be delivered in phases. The first phase seeks to deliver up to 450 new houses with a mix of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments for rent, which include homes at a discounted market rent. All units will have access to shared communal amenity space and new public open space. This will be developed alongside  ground floor commercial uses, delivering a vibrant and active ground floor commercial offering in the heart of Clarendon Wharf. 

The later phases will include a further 150 new homes more ground floor commercial use and hotel  an apart-hotel and more public open space, that will include the central public square around the existing docks and an accessible active water-side space.  

The Clarendon Wharf masterplan will integrate with recent development in City Quay’s area, adding to the recently opened City Quays Gardens, the planning permissions for City Quays 4 (256 residential apartments) and City Quays 5 (160,000 sq. ft of commercial office space), and 69 social and affordable homes at Pilot Street. 

The proposals will deliver a range of social value benefits across the development. The proposed development will deliver thousands of jobs across a range of roles during the construction phases and hundreds of new jobs to support the new commercial ground floor uses. 

A central element of Clarendon Wharf is the delivery of a new, high-quality community use space designed to serve both future residents and the wider Belfast community. This dedicated facility will provide a flexible, inclusive environment where people can come together for social and cultural, strengthening community cohesion and supporting wellbeing.  

By integrating community use into the heart of the development, Belfast Harbour is ensuring that Clarendon Wharf is not just a place to live and work, but a vibrant neighbourhood with a strong sense of identity and belonging. 

The project will deliver approximately 4 hectares of linked public spaces, including a central square based around the existing historic docks, new pedestrian and cycle routes, and new green areas. This will be the largest city centre urban public space development in decades, ensuring the masterplan area sets the standard for urban regeneration in the city. 

The new development will be sensitive to the cultural and heritage assets around the site. The development proposes to reuse the existing Clarendon buildings and the area around the docks into new useable spaces at the heart of Clarendon Wharf prioritised whilst focusing on delivering high-quality uses. 

The masterplan prioritises walking, cycling, and public transport. It integrates with the National Cycle Network (Route 93), Belfast Bikes, and bus routes. Streets will be designed as pedestrian- and cycle-priority where possible. 

The public realm strategy integrates a range of climate adaptive landscaping features including rain gardens, sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) and additional landscape greening solutions. 

There will be a significant increase in soft landscaping across the masterplan area from the existing areas of hard standing that dominate the current site. The development provides the opportunity for floating habitat islands, dockside greening, oyster nurseries for water cleaning, and sensory planting schemes.