Brownfield sites in N Ireland, case study on Belfast Ship yards development Debra Telford, Senior Scientist, RPS

1. Titanic Quarter Masterplan
TITANIC QUARTER
Development of Belfast’s former Shipyards
Debra Telford – Senior Scientist, Waste & Contaminated Land - RPS

2. TITANIC QUARTER
Overview
• Titanic Quarter is a 185 Acre
regeneration development (twice the
size of Canary Wharf) located beside
the River Lagan in Belfast.
• Home to major TV and film productions
including Game of Thrones, the world’s
largest Titanic visitor attraction, one of
Belfast’s most desirable residential
waterfront developments, and over 100
national and international businesses.
• RPS have delivered a wide range of
multidisciplinary services on all aspects
of the development from concept to
completion for the elements completed
to date valuing ~£0.5 Billion.
Titanic Quarter Masterplan

3. HISTORY OF TITANIC QUARTER
• Situated adjacent to River Lagan & Belfast Lough
• 185 acres of reclaimed land, formerly known as Queen’s Island
• Created from spoil dredged during the cutting of a channel
through a meander of the adjacent River Lagan by Belfast
Harbour Commissioners 1839 – 1841
• Initially a timber pond, public garden and public bath house
River Lagan
Belfast City
Centre
Belfast Lough
Titanic
Quarter
1832

4. HISTORY OF TITANIC QUARTER
• The Victoria Channel was cut in 1843 to enable boat access to
Belfast’s first deepwater quay, named ‘Queen’s Quay’
• Small shipyard established 1850s
• 1858 Harbour Commissioners established an iron shipyard for
the fabrication of iron hulled boats
• Belfast Harbour Commissioners established the Abercorn Basin
and Hamilton Dry Dock 1860s
• Railway connection and rapid expansion of the shipyard

5. HISTORY OF TITANIC QUARTER
Background
· Harland & Wolff Shipyard founded
1861
· Steeped in History
· Shipyard Employed over 50,000

6. INDUSTRIAL LEGACY
Background
· Shipbuilding
· Steelworks
· Diesel engine manufacture (marine & rail)
· Electrical manufacture
· Paint & anticorrosive works

7. HISTORY OF TITANIC QUARTER
Background
· Titanic
· Olympic
· Brittanic
· SS Nomadic
· Drawing Offices and
large Buildings
· Grade A Listed

8. TITANIC QUARTER
1907
2022

9. BUILDING ON MARITIME
INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE
• H&W employment shrank to <500 by the 1980’s
• Shipyards and drawing offices etc fell empty
• 1 mile of prime Waterfront Land
• Demolition in 2000s by TDS – 6,000,000 square feet
of ship buildings and repair complexes, shipyard
cranes, slipways demolished and dismantled to
ground level
• Large amounts of asbestos material removed under
full enclosure conditions
• 20,000 tonnes of ferrous material removed and sent
for segregation

10. TITANIC QUARTER
MASTER PLAN
• One of Europe’s largest waterfront regeneration
projects
• Currently 20,000 people per day living, working,
visiting and staying in Titanic Quarter
• Attracts over 3.6 million visitors per year
• Pioneering sustainable development for the
future of Belfast
Titanic Quarter Masterplan

11. RPS DELIVERING THE MASTER PLAN
Original Contact for Due Diligence
• The original appointment was for a review of the existing site to
understand the issues with respect to Contamination as part of
a due diligence by a Developer (Harcourt Developments) to
purchase the site.
• The contact came through a local Architect who was working
with this Developer on a smaller project. They recommended
RPS because of our local knowledge and recognized Technical
Expertise.
• The Brief was small at the start and was more of a “hand
holding” exercise.
What was the problem/challenge faced?
• The initial challenge was to provide due diligence support and
understand the issues on the site given it was an old shipyard
site – what where the likely costs to “clean it up”.
• RPS developed a strong relationship with the Client and built
confidence and trust.
• As the project developed the Client could see the benefits of
RPS being a multi-disciplinary organization. Any additional
services required could be easily and quickly “bolted on” to our
original appointment.
Our Scope
· Environmental Due Diligence
· Phase I Preliminary Risk Assessment
· Phase II Generic Quantitative Risk Assessment
· Waste Classification
· Sometimes Detailed Quantitative Risk Assessment
· Remedial Strategy
· Verification / sometimes auditing / advisory role on behalf of
Client to ensure delivery of Remedial Strategy

12. CONDITIONS
Our expertise
· Contamination
· Good local knowledge, developing an
understanding of ground conditions and CSM
· Communication with NIEA & BCC
· Technical advice for Client needs
Pickling of steel
Priming of steel
Fitting out of ships
Painting of anti – corrosives
Petroleum, oil & grease
Sandstone
Boulder Clay
• 300mm - 500mm Concrete Slabs
• 3m – 5m Made Ground
• 5 – 8m Sleech
• 2m Sand
• 15m Boulder Clay
• Sandstone

13. CURRENT
STATUS HMS Caroline
Citigroup Offices
To date RPS have
been responsible
for providing
Multi-Disciplinary
services for these
developments.
HMS Caroline
Film Studios
Titanic
Belfast
SS Nomadic
Abercorn
Basin Marina
Arc Apartments & Hotel
Channel Commercial
Park
Titanic Exhibition
Centre
Titanic Boutique Hotel &
Restoration of H&W
Drawing Offices
Belfast Metropolitan
College
Olympic House
Public Records Office
Northern Ireland
Car show rooms
Amazon Distribution
Warehouse
Citigroup Offices

14. CURRENT PROJECTS
Aquarium Approved
September 2020
Hamilton Dock Hotel
Approved January
2020
The Loft Lines
- Under construction
Artemis
PBMSA

15. TITANIC BELFAST

16. TITANIC BELFAST
BUILDING
• Opened in 2012 to commemorate 100th anniversary
of RMS Titanic
• Double Basement
• 92,000 m3 of soil material excavated to facilitate
basement construction
• Secant pile wall to prevent groundwater ingress
during basement dig
• 46,000 m3 of soil (mainly Sleech and some Made
Ground) was unsuitable for re-use (predominantly
for geotechnical reasons) and was disposed to
landfill
• Remaining 46,000 m3 of soil was re-used to raise
site levels for flood mitigation and to create a soft
landscaped area around the Titanic Belfast Building

17. TITANIC FILM STUDIOS

18. TITANIC FILM STUDIOS
• New Film Studio building constructed adjacent to
former ‘Paint Hall’
• One of the largest studios in the world. Film Studio
building 43ft high, floor space 42,000 sq ft
• Localised Hydrocarbon and PAH contamination in
shallow sub-soils and groundwater
• Excavation and disposal of this contaminated
material (40 m3)
• 4,200 m3 of soil material was used to raise floor
levels by 1m. This material was sourced from the
basement excavations from the Phase 1 Arc
Residential development.
• CS2 ground gas – Gas membrane and passive
venting

19. THE LOFT LINES

20. THE LOFT LINES
• Mixed use, mixed tenure riverside development comprising 778
no. homes, public realm
• 3.8 acre site
• ‘Loft Lines’ hails from the former use of the site, the Mould Loft,
by geometrists
Scope
• PRA & GQRA, waste classification
• Remedial Strategy
• EIA Chapter
Our expertise
· Contamination
· Multi-Disciplinary Office
· Good Local Knowledge
· Understanding the Client’s needs
· Technical Expertise

21. THE LOFT LINES
Use of PRA, existing catalogue of knowledge and expertise in
the wider TQ area to scope and design intrusive investigation
Ground Investigation
• 13no. BHs across the site (8no deep ~ 36m bgl; 5no. shallow ~
5m bgl)
• Installation of 11no. BHs as monitoring wells – GW & GG
• 20no. Trial pits ~ 4.5m bgl
• Surface water sampling in adjacent Belfast Lough
Our expertise
· Contamination
· Multi-Disciplinary Office
· Good Local Knowledge
· Understanding the Client’s needs
· Technical Expertise
Findings
• Two groundwater bodies – perched shallow within made ground,
and deep within sand strata
• Groundwater contamination – metals, and PAHs as a result of
made ground -> Belfast Lough; elevated TPH for vapor risk ->
human health – further sampling undertaken
• Marginally > beryllium in made ground
• Asbestos in soils within proposed building footprint and public
realm – delineation exercise undertaken
• Gas & vapour protection required

22. THE LOFT LINES
Our expertise
· Contamination
· Multi-Disciplinary Office
· Good Local Knowledge
· Understanding the Client’s needs
· Technical Expertise
Remedial Strategy
• Further GW & SW sampling found no pathway for contaminated
shallow GW to deeper groundwater or Belfast Lough – no
remedial action required
• Continual monitoring of GW & SW before, during and post piling
works – piling risk assessment
• Dual ground gas and hydrocarbon vapour protection measures
within proposed buildings
• Installation of clean cover barrier system within public realm
Current Status
• Groundworks & piling works have commenced

23. CHALLENGES
• How to address wider site issues within a
planning application boundary in the absence of
Part 2A?
• Results in mitigating risks / remediating pockets
of a wider legacy issue?
• Would a formal soil reuse strategy e.g. DoW CoP
approach within TQ area or ‘treatment hospital’
be advantageous for future development?

24. HIGHLIGHTS
• Sustainable redevelopment of Belfast’s maritime
and industrial heritage for future generations
• RPS deliver a Master Plan which provides the
environmental and engineering solutions across
185 acres of Titanic Quarter Lands
• 100% record in successful planning approvals,
with regular Regulatory engagement
• When considering a new project, RPS can look
at it in the wider context of the Master Plan

25. Questions