How a nature-first flood protection scheme has revitalised east Belfast

The Connswater Community Greenway is a linear park running alongside three rivers – the Connswater and its tributaries, the Loop and the Knock – in east Belfast.

Completed in 2017, it provides a 16km (10-mile) network of car-free footways and cycle paths. These connect the upstream communities of Braniel and Cregagh with Victoria Park, where the lower Connswater meets the sea at Belfast Lough.

The green public spaces created by the scheme form part of a wider programme to deliver urgently needed flood alleviation measures. By increasing river capacity and attenuation, the measures protect 40,000 people living near these watercourses.

Belfast City Council delivered this £41m project in collaboration with Northern Ireland’s DfI Rivers (then known as the Rivers Agency) and EastSide Partnership, a charity dedicated to regenerating east Belfast.

Arup led the project team during the design and construction stages of the project’s second phase. The Paul Hogarth Company was the landscape architect and Farrans Construction was the main contractor.

Community engagement

Many residents of east Belfast face a range of challenges, including low life expectancy and high levels of child poverty.

EastSide Partnership identified poor-quality infrastructure in this long-neglected area as a significant barrier to solving such problems.

The project team initially asked local people what their communities most needed from a major regeneration investment.

This research identified that improvements in public health, the extent to which the community feels connected and flood protection were their top priorities.

The engagement process also helped to address concerns about the project’s potential negative outcomes.

Some people living near planned entrances to the greenway, for example, had been worried that these might become centres of antisocial behaviour. They had therefore struggled to see the upside of having a new amenity on their doorsteps.

The engagement effort hasn’t stopped. EastSide Partnership continues to hold public events such as nature walks and outdoor fitness classes in the greenway.

Local secondary schools have even included the project in their GCSE and A-level geography curricula.

Flood alleviation

Much of the urban land adjoining the Connswater, Knock and Loop was prone to both fluvial (river) and pluvial (rainwater) flooding.

With this in mind, the council and EastSide Partnership worked with DfI Rivers to incorporate the greenway regeneration into a flood alleviation programme, combining their procurement efforts.

This coordinated approach also enabled Arup to produce integrated design solutions to:

• Maximise the quality of the infrastructure.
• Minimise the disruption caused by the construction.
• Reduce the overall cost of the combined works.

The flood alleviation measures installed along the greenway included 4.1km of reinforced concrete walls and 1.2km of embankments.

The designs for these prioritised the use of local materials, including natural ones wherever possible.

River restoration

Urban development in east Belfast had altered the courses of all three rivers over the years. Restoring them to their more natural forms was a key aim of the project.

The idea was that this would help to increase biodiversity, allow greater public access and generally improve the rivers’ appearance.

At the low water levels, bundles of brushwood (small branches) were fixed to shallow gabion mattresses (the broader, flatter rock cages favoured as shields against bank erosion). These were then pinned to the existing revetments (retaining walls) and filled with stone and brushed soil, encouraging new vegetation.

The green habitat created by these measures has proved much more attractive to nesting wildlife than the granite channels these rivers had been forced through in several locations.

Adapting stone revetments so that they take a more natural form, and adding native aquatic planting to them, has improved the rivers’ ecological status in line with the requirements of the EU water framework directive, which still applies in the UK.

(Under this regulation, the quality of a river’s surface water is assessed on factors such as pollution and habitat loss to produce a ranking known as its ecological status.)

The pride of Belfast

A public space called C S Lewis Square sits at the heart of the scheme. It used to be a patch of waste ground by the Connswater at Holywood Arches.

The 2,500m² square was opened in 2016 in honour of the renowned author, who was born and raised in east Belfast. It features sculptures based on characters from his best-known novel, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

C S Lewis Square and the nearby visitor centre attract more than 1,000 people each day, contributing hugely to east Belfast’s ongoing regeneration.

Other greenway gains

Another important goal of the scheme has been to improve public health. This included the health of:

• 40,000 local residents
• the students who attend the 23 schools and colleges near the greenway; and
• people who work in the area.

The project commissioned Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) to evaluate the effects of the new infrastructure on the local community.

Its study concluded that, if only 2% of the inactive population of east Belfast were to become active because of the greenway, the investment would pay for itself in 40 years through healthcare cost savings alone.

A survey conducted six months after the amenity’s opening found that the number of people using it as a recreation space had doubled over that time to an average of 556 an hour.

Other studies have suggested that there will be a £4 return on every £1 invested in developing the greenway, based on factors such as tourism, job creation and higher property prices.

Another important social outcome is that the area feels safer. The QUB researchers noted a perceived reduction in crime, including vandalism and littering, thanks in part to the greenway’s well-lit paths.

Travel guidebooks used to contain little to recommend visiting east Belfast. However, the project has created an attraction that has drawn tourists here and stimulated the local economy.

It’s an inclusive asset that the whole community can enjoy and be proud of.

Name of project:

Connswater Community Greenway

Project team members:

• Carol Andrews, Arup
• Michele Bryans, EastSide Partnership
• Chris Caves, Arup
• Adrian Grimshaw, Belfast City Council (now at the Department for the Economy)
• Dr David Hetherington, Arup
• Wendy Langham, EastSide Partnership (now at Belfast City Council)
• Reuben Lucas, Arup
• Brian McCool, Farrans Construction
• Owen McGivern, DfI Rivers
• Anthony McGuigan, the Paul Hogarth Company