Hotel, housing and new link road part of £250m residential scheme for Lisburn

AN APPLICATION for a new hotel in Lisburn has been submitted as part of a £250m residential scheme.

Two applications related to Blaris Lands — submitted by developer Neptune Carleton — propose 1,300 dwellings, a one-mile road scheme connecting the M1 at Sprucefield to the area, and a 770,000 sq ft commercial space to include a hotel.

It follows on from a separate application last month, by Beannchor Group, to open a £4m hotel in Lisburn Square.

Also recently, Sprucefield Park owner Intu confirmed that a £50m refurbishment of its Lisburn retail site, to include a hotel, will still go ahead despite rumours of a takeover.

Speaking about the commercial element of Blaris Lands, which could eventually connect to the former Maze/Long Kesh site, planning consultant for the scheme, Clyde Shanks, said: “Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) is keen to see mixeduse development in there.

“Clearly the commercial side of things is very much to the fore and once identified it will cover some 770,000 sq ft with the potential to generate new jobs.”

Neptune Carleton estimates the commercial element of the site will generate up to 1,500 jobs.

The submission for Blaris Lands comes after a series of public consultations which were held in September 2017 and September of this year.

This offered local people the opportunity to “understand the proposals for the lands and to provide feedback that has informed the finalised plans”.

A “substantial” riverside park is also earmarked for the site, which Mr Shanks said will integrate Lagan Valley and “in the longer term there is potential to connect it the whole way to Belfast”.

“It also gives the opportunity to link up with Maze/Long Kesh and increase the traffic circulation in the area,” he said.

If the planning application is approved, the infrastructure phase of the project is expected to be completed by summer 2021.

Director of Neptune Carleton, Patrick Heffron, said: “We are delighted that the planning applications have now been lodged with the council.

“Our proposals will create a sustainable and high-quality expansion of Lisburn City where people will want to live, work and enjoy their leisure time.

“We are committed to working closely with LCCC and its consultees to deliver on the vision that we have established and to seeing the link road and a first phase of development constructed by summer 2021.”

Neptune Group has completed numerous housing schemes in Northern Ireland.

Its most recent project was the newly opened Ollar Valley in Templepatrick.