Queen's Parade (Bangor Marine Ltd)

The Queen's Parade area of Bangor waterfront is to be developed by Bangor Marine Ltd.

Bangor Marine Ltd (a joint venture between Farrans and the Karl Group) was appointed by the Department for Communities and the Council as the preferred developer of the site in May 2019 and planning permission for a mixed-used development was granted in September 2022.

Working with Bangor Marine Ltd, the Department for Communities leads on the redevelopment of the Queen's Parade area of Bangor. An extensive summary of the site and recent key milestones is provided on its website: Regeneration of Queen's Parade, Bangor | Department for Communities (communities-ni.gov.uk)

Visit Bangor Marine Ltd's dedicated Queen's Parade website for more details of the redevelopment scheme Home - Bangor Marine (queensparadebangor.com) and to sign up for the newsletter to receive news and updates.

Investment in the Queen's Parade area of Bangor city centre is critical to local regeneration.

Frequently asked questions

What is the current status of the Queen's Parade Development?

PROGRESS UPDATE JULY 2023 - MARINE GARDENS IN BANGOR

Aran Blackbourne of Bangor Marine said:

"Over the last few months, we have been working on the detailed design for the Queen's Parade project in consultation with the Council and Hemingway Design. This has resulted in some unique opportunities to improve the offering at Marine Gardens, including the introduction of a new play area. We believe these changes will greatly enhance the plans, providing additional benefits for residents and visitors to the city.

It was fantastic to receive an award of £9.8m from the Government's Levelling Up Fund for Marine Gardens. We have been working closely with the Levelling Up Fund team to finalise the funding arrangements, including the commitments required from Bangor Marine, and we hope these will all be in place in the very near future.

We are also undertaking the requirements to satisfy the Planning Pre-Conditions. Unfortunately, this is taking a little longer than we originally anticipated. This involves preparing reports and carrying out surveys, which are then sent to the various consultees for consideration.

With all of this needing to be finalised before we can get going on site, there will be a short delay in seeing work starting. However, we hope to undertake pre-start works late this year, with construction starting early 2024.

We remain fully committed to delivering this landmark project for the City of Bangor."

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Bangor Marine received the formal decision notice of planning permission for their development on 29 September 2022.

Bangor Marine recognise that there is a high level of public interest in the redevelopment and are keen to get construction started as soon as possible. Since gaining planning consent, the company has been working hard with all stakeholders with the intention of beginning work on the Marine Gardens public realm phase in summer 2023. There are still challenges to resolve ahead of mobilising on site. One key area is ecology and Bangor Marine is lining up all appropriate surveys to ensure full compliance with the appropriate guidance. Depending on the findings of the surveys, some aspects of the programme of work may be moved into the Autumn.

What is the current proposal?

A £50m private investment that will deliver:

A 67-bed hotel with spa/ swimming pool
138 new homes (37 x 1 beds/ 98 x 2 beds/ 3 x 3 beds)
Over 6000m2 of office space
1,858m2 of food and beverage/ retail opportunities
A destination/ cinema building
1,208m2 indoor activity space
255 space car park
Marine Gardens public realm and open space

With the loss of the main car park along Queen's Parade as part of the Bangor Marine development, what will be done to replace these spaces?

An analysis of car parking in Bangor some time ago, determined that there are sufficient car parking spaces in Bangor. This was carried out before the Flagship opened its car park now offering 500 spaces. In addition to on-street parking spaces, those in the Asda car park and in the Dufferin Avenue Park & Ride, current car parks in Bangor include:

Pay & Display: Free Parking:

Abbey Street (East & West)
Bingham Lane
Castle Street
Central Avenue
Clifton Road
Holborn Road
Mills Road
The Vennel
Bangor Marina
Bangor Castle Grounds
Banks Lane, Groomsport Road
Eisenhower Pier
Lukes Point, Seacliff Road
Newtownards Road/Church Street
Ward Park (Pavilion), Gransha Road

What is the difference between Queen's Parade and the Bangor Waterfront project?

These are two different but complimentary investment schemes for Bangor.

Queen's Parade is a £50M investment in a mixed-use development by Bangor Marine - a joint venture between Farrans and Karl Group. It will regenerate the Queen's Parade area of the town centre.

Bangor Waterfront is the redevelopment of a 2 mile stretch of coastline from Skippingstone beach to Ballyholme. It is being led by the Council and is due to receive circa £40M of funding from Belfast Region City Deal. The remaining investment will come from Council (£20M) and the private sector (£12M).

Combined, these schemes will deliver £122M into the town and allow it to embark on its most ambitious regeneration journey for decades.