Demolition of former Roads Service building will mark significant step for Strabane regeneration plan

THE long-awaited regeneration of Strabane planned under City Deal funding will take a significant step forward in the coming weeks.

The demolition of the former Roads Service building on Derry Road will mark the first on the ground action paving the way for a portfolio of projects, including a new £42m leisure centre which is being delivered alongside a number of other strategic projects planned as part of the wider co-location of key public services to the Canal Basin area.

The clearance work - the first stage in the planned redevelopment of the area - will allow prepartory works to begin on site for ahead of the construction of the leisure centre which is set to replace the ageing Riversdale facility..

Council chief executive, John Kelpie, told councillors the demolition work is expected to begin "by March".

This £115m Strabane Town Centre Regeneration Project also includes a new North West Regional College (NWRC) campus and a Western Health and Social Care Trust Primary Care Health in the area, with a new pedestrian footbridge across the River Mourne at Lower Main Street.

During a special meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council on Thursday, an update on the local projects planned under the wider £307.5 City Deal and Inclusive Future Fund (IFF) programme was given by Mr Kelpie.

Speaking of the Strabane regeneration programme, Mr Kelpie confirmed Integrated Consultant Teams (ICTs) have been appointed for the leisure centre and health hub, while procurement for the new NWRC campus is well advanced, with a consultant appointment expected by spring 2026.

"The Strabane project is going particularly well," Mr Kelpie said. "It is exceptionally complicated in its interlinkages.

"We have made the appointment for the Integrated Consultant Team for the leisure centre, and because of all the interlinkages between all of these projects, we've had a very complicated set of meetings with all of the project partners to deal with who is picking up the road design, the sewerage design, the utilities design, the electricity supply, the water supply for all of these different buildings in the same space.

"Very rare do you get a scenario where there are so many different partners trying to design different buildings and work across all of these agencies.

"So to ensure that we're trying to do it in a joined up way, we have mutually agreed to appoint one overall consultant team to work with all of us, to look at all of that.

"That has been as a result of extensive meetings, negotiations and discussions.

"We are on the verge of making that appointment. It's due to happen in the next couple of weeks that we will have that team on board."

In terms of site preparation, he said legal agreements for the acquisition of the former Department for Infrastructure (DfI) building on Derry Road are nearing completion, and a demolition tender is being prepared to clear the site for construction, while scoping for additional car parking is being undertaken.

Mr Kelpie continued: "We have acquired a site for car parking adjacent to the proposed new leisure centre on the Derry Road.

"We have undertaken a parking needs analysis right across Strabane town centre.

"We are currently scoping at least one, if not more, further sites in and around the Canal Basin area for the potential of overspill car parking and future and catalytic development."

He continued: "We've nearly completed the legals on the DfI building on Derry Road.

"We're working through the demolition contract and demolition on that site will probably begin within the next couple of months.

"We will be putting a hoarding around that site with some preliminary visuals and information on what's coming.

"So movement on the ground will begin to take place probably by March of this year with regard to that.

"Specifically in relation to that, there are a row of houses just beside it on the Derry Road that we've been doing door-to-door engagement with residents in that area to make sure that they're fully aware of what's happening."

In terms of the finanancing, the council chief said additional funding will be required to deliver the public realm elements of the regeneration programme.

"The Strabane project at Heads of Terms stage was circa £90m - it's now sitting at £115m of committed funding to the Strabane project," he continued.

"But, just to be clear with members, we have significantly scaled back the public realm element of that project due to affordability and focused on the buildings.

"We  now have to continue to work with DfC (Department for Communities) and other partners to ensure that at some point we can bring back in the public realm part of that project to fully complete it.

"Although that is yet subject to detailed design, it's circa a £10m project in itself and we're very alive to the requirement for that to happen.

"We have strongly indicated to DfC that we would wish it to be thinking about it in future funding rounds and it is something together with Queen's Quay (in the Derry Project) - these are the two vital elements that we need to progress in parallel with the rest of the City Deal projects.

In terms of the overall City Deal funding, Mr Kelpie said: "The City Deal is a catalyst for some many other things.....We're now sitting with £307.5m of committed expenditure from the original £250m."