A desire to support local businesses and promote better street life on the Ormeau Road following the Covid 19 pandemic brought Belfast Buildings Trust, MMAS Architects, OGU Architects and Queen’s University together in an attempt to find quick, cheap ways of converting parking space to ensure social distancing, facilitate trading and create better public access to open shared spaces.
The team has converted five on–street parking spaces into designed outdoor space using temporary urbanism and collaborative co–design approaches. The additional pavement space can be used by the public for physical distancing, and by cafes and restaurants for business purposes, on a test and trial basis. The project incorporates a range of community and business engagement approaches as a collaborative local test for wider civic use. It is also evidence–based with impact and research studies to help inform other urban placemaking projects in Belfast. It is the first parklet delivered in Northern Ireland.
The team produced a guidance document for the Ormeau trial called ‘Expanding Pavements Enriching Street Life’ which has been disseminated to various stakeholders to achieve consensus and move the project forward. We have consulted widely with business to gain their support. The team worked with Inclusive Mobility & Transport Advisory Committee (IMTAC) to maximise accessibility. We have been working in collaboration with the Department for Infrastructure to develop the final solution for a Northern Irish context. The team understand highway considerations, pedestrian safety, urban design principles, maintenance requirements and lead times constraints around creating and changing and currating streets on a temporary basis. It is important that councils act quickly on the need for expanded pavements and outdoor seating space in a strategic way which has long lasting positive implications for urban design and Northern Irish street life.
The team have worked with local manufacturers and suppliers to protoype and cost the final solution. Bespoke elements were manufactured in less than a week and the construction of the parklet was delivered in 4 days in time for a community planting day and opening. The project has been a great success and is well used so far. Research is being collected to assess its impact so that an evidenced based approach is utilised for future parklets and temporary pavement extensions in Northern Ireland. The team brings considerable research and knowledge of this process and the Belfast context for these types of demountable urban design.
A desire to support local businesses and promote better street life on the Ormeau Road following the Covid 19 pandemic brought Belfast Buildings Trust, MMAS Architects, OGU Architects and Queen’s University together in an attempt to find quick, cheap ways of converting parking space to ensure social distancing, facilitate trading and create better public access to open shared spaces.
The team has converted five on–street parking spaces into designed outdoor space using temporary urbanism and collaborative co–design approaches. The additional pavement space can be used by the public for physical distancing, and by cafes and restaurants for business purposes, on a test and trial basis. The project incorporates a range of community and business engagement approaches as a collaborative local test for wider civic use. It is also evidence–based with impact and research studies to help inform other urban placemaking projects in Belfast. It is the first parklet delivered in Northern Ireland.
The team produced a guidance document for the Ormeau trial called ‘Expanding Pavements Enriching Street Life’ which has been disseminated to various stakeholders to achieve consensus and move the project forward. We have consulted widely with business to gain their support. The team worked with Inclusive Mobility & Transport Advisory Committee (IMTAC) to maximise accessibility. We have been working in collaboration with the Department for Infrastructure to develop the final solution for a Northern Irish context. The team understand highway considerations, pedestrian safety, urban design principles, maintenance requirements and lead times constraints around creating and changing and currating streets on a temporary basis. It is important that councils act quickly on the need for expanded pavements and outdoor seating space in a strategic way which has long lasting positive implications for urban design and Northern Irish street life.
The team have worked with local manufacturers and suppliers to protoype and cost the final solution. Bespoke elements were manufactured in less than a week and the construction of the parklet was delivered in 4 days in time for a community planting day and opening. The project has been a great success and is well used so far. Research is being collected to assess its impact so that an evidenced based approach is utilised for future parklets and temporary pavement extensions in Northern Ireland. The team brings considerable research and knowledge of this process and the Belfast context for these types of demountable urban design.
