A CO Tyrone developer must fund an archaeological dig on a Belfast city centre building site before it can proceed with a major office construction project.
Planning officials at Belfast City Council have recommended approving McAleer and Rushe’s proposal to demolish Norwich Union House to make way for a seven storey development.
But while the developer looks set to get the green light from the City Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, it will be on the condition that it funds a dig to uncover potential remains and artefacts of historical importance as part of its demolition and reconstruction project.
The developer is planning to demolish Norwich Union House, close to Royal Avenue, to make way for 230,730 sq ft of floorspace, including six levels of offices over a ground floor made up of retail and restaurant units, between Castle Street, Fountain Street and Queen Street.
According to a report prepared for Tuesday’s planning committee, the site is in close proximity to the 17th century town ditch of Belfast: “The recorded archaeological sites and monuments nearby are indicators of a high archaeological potential for further, previously unrecorded archaeological remains, which may be encountered within the application site, with particular focus on 17th century settlement and the later industrial development of Belfast.”
The Historic Environment Division, the government body for protecting historic sites and monuments, has determined that the project can go ahead, but only on the condition that it funds a programme of archaeological works.
“This is to identify and record any archaeological remains in advance of new construction, or to provide for their preservation in situ.”
According to Queen’s University academic Ruairí Ó Baoill, the first licensed archaeological excavation did not take place in Belfast until 1983.
The archaeology specialist suggested that alongside a lack of upstanding historic monuments, it has contributed to an ignorance about Belfast’s 800-year settlement history.
