Development History
The Royal Exchange scheme is a mixed use redevelopment of the North East Quarter of Belfast City Centre. Ewart Properties have been buying up land in this area for years in preparation for the project which evolved from an initial proposal in the late 1990's.
 
During 1999/2000 Ewart Properties and John Laing/MEPC (the developers behind the CastleCourt extension at the time) considered combining their developments to compete against Victoria Square for government backing in a joint venture named the “Gateway Project”. At the time the Sunday Post Online [2000] reported that Ewart Properties had acquired around 80% of the proposed development site and negotiations where ongoing with other landlords. However the joint project was dropped and Victora Square received the backing of the government.
 
The current Royal Exchange scheme was then proposed and in March 2006 the Social Development Minister announced the selection of the North East Quarter as the next area for major retail-led regeneration in the city centre after Victoria Square.
 
On 6th February 2008 the Department for Social Development entered into “Heads of Terms” with Ewart Properties to develop Royal Exchange. In December 2009 the Department for Social Development announced that a Development Agreement had been signed with the developer consortium to outline legal and contractual matters and stipulate that a planning application must be approved by the DSD and submitted to the Planning Service by 31 October 2010. Commenting on the signing of the development agreement Nick Reid, chief executive of Ewart Properties, commented that “the company [Ewart Properties] has been acquiring properties in the area for almost 20 years and to date has invested £40m to get to this stage".
 
On 29th October 2010 the developer, Leaside Investments [a consortium consisting of Ewart Properties, Snoddens Construction & ING Real Estate] submitted the planning applications for the Royal Exchange development. However the DSD has stated that the project will only commence construction when the retail market and general economy recovers to enable a viable development to proceed.

Development Description
Based on proposals submitted by Leaside Investments in October 2010 Royal Exchange could provide up to 250,000 sq ft of retail space complemented by restaurants, bars, cafés, art and leisure uses, apartments, offices and car parking.

There will be at least one anchor department store [8,300m2], a minimum of 25,369m2 of class A1 retail, a minimum of 4,083m2 of commercial space for catering and leisure uses and a minimum of 200 residential units, of which 40 residential units will be allocated for affordable housing [for every 20 additional units above the minimum number, one will be allocated for affordable housing].  

Architect: Consarc Conservation
Project Manager: Hughes McMichael
Quantity Surveyor: Bruce Shaw
Structural / Civil / Landscape & Traffic Engineers: RPS
Services Engineer: Delap & Waller
Planning Consultant: DPP
Public Relations: MCE Public Relations