Townsend Enterprise Park marks 35 years of business regeneration

Belfast charitable social enterprise Townsend Enterprise Park is celebrating 35 years of helping the local community transform through business and regeneration.
Founded in 1987 the park recognised the need for creating new opportunities, stretching the imagination and promoting peace and reconciliation within the local community. And 35 years on and they are delighted to be supporting 45 organisations as well as the communities on either side of the peace wall in Belfast.

To mark the milestone, the organisation has officially launched the Foundry Quarter heritage initiative which aims to increase economic activity and tourism and help restore civic pride in the area as a great place in which to live, work and invest.

The initiative was launched with an indoor exhibition, with funding secured for a permanent external exhibition situated on the ‘peace line’ to celebrate and inform visitors about the area’s amazing industrial, social and cultural heritage.

A feasibility study has also demonstrated the merits of a new £2million interpretive visitor and education centre, with community-based shared workspace and industrial units for local businesses.

In 1838 the Soho Foundry opened on the site currently occupied by Townsend Enterprise Park. Founded by Presbyterian Industrialist Robert Shipboy MacAdam and his brother, James, it had a workforce of over 250 people from both communities.

They patented a design for an innovative steam turbine, built Ireland’s largest steam engine, and exported products worldwide, which, among other applications, helped irrigate large parts of the Nile Delta of Egypt.

Closer to home, their innovation played a key role in unlocking the power of the River Farset to enable West Belfast’s industrial revolution.

The brothers also played a hugely significant cultural role in Ireland, helping to found Belfast’s Botanic Gardens, Museum and Queens College (now University), as well as the Ulster Gaelic Society which was instrumental in the preservation and promotion of the Irish Language and culture.
Townsend Street alone supported a further seven foundries, and the surrounding area was home to many more employing thousands of people producing a wide range of iron products, as well as countless factories and mills.

Through population change and development over the intervening years almost all trace of this rich industrial history is lost.

This Foundry Quarter heritage initiative is intended to celebrate and promote this important part of Belfast’s industrial, social and cultural history. The plans allow Townsend Enterprise Park to meet its key objectives of economic regeneration, social wellbeing and the promotion of peace and reconciliation.

Its Board strongly believes that this project will help underpin these values, ensuring a strong and vibrant future for the area.
They are home to 45 small-to-medium sized businesses, employing over 300 people from across the city and beyond, providing flexible workspaces, meeting, and training and conference rooms.

Chief executive officer of Townsend Enterprise Park Margaret Patterson McMahon, said: “Today we are not only marking 35 years in our journey, but we are celebrating a really exciting new chapter in our history by launching our heritage initiative and telling some of the really important stories which we are concerned are going to get lost about this site and why it is so important for Belfast’s history, present and future.

“The vision of the project is to help to reconnect both sides of the North West Quarter community in the city by improving opportunities for residents and those who work there by creating employment and new venues. It will also enhance the physical landscape of the area and the corridor between the Falls and Shankill Roads attracting new domestic and international visitors.

“This Foundry Quarter project will contribute to the local community through economic regeneration, showcasing Belfast’s wonderful historical Belfast to both local and international tourists, and will help build civic pride and a shared sense of identity for people from all communities – helping them reconnect with the role people of this area played in shaping Belfast as we know it today.

“We believe that we can bring about a positive change to this area of the city and will continue to press forward to secure funding for this project that will make such a positive impact to the area by providing distinct services which open existing space, create additional shared space, attract additional local visitors and international tourists, tell the rich history of the area and provide employment and training opportunities.”