Planners have backed a massive new housing development near Coleraine.

The site of the former Maxwells quarry and concrete batching plant at Bushmills Road, will be known as Lakeside and by the time it is completed will have cost in the region of £90m.

With 'remodelling' of the former quarry floor now complete, around 70 construction workers are expected on site within weeks, with over 100 workers needed soon by contractor, Farrans.

A Coleraine Council Planning Committee has just given the green light for the first phase of the 42-acre site which is being transformed from a 50 metre 'hole in the ground' to eventually feature a mix of high quality apartments, housing and apartment blocks six to seven storeys high.

-- Advertisement --

The innovative scheme will also create a series of dramatic open spaces, interconnected with 'pedestrian friendly' streets.

However the signature element will be an eight-acre, 20-metre deep lake.

The work will involve an unprecedented 'cut and fill exercise' to fill the hole in the quarry will need 350,000 cubic metres of material - bigger than what was required at the Victoria Square shopping centre in Belfast.

It will need a retaining wall 'geo-grid', which will provide a stable platform for the development, is one of the biggest being built in Europe.

Existing water from the quarry basin will be used to provide a feature lake which could be filled with trout and even used for other water-based facilities, such as swimming and jet-skiing.

Environmental sustainability is also assured with most of the materials needed already on-site - such as stone from the 'cliff' face which will be used for foundations and roads.

Farrans Homes has been working closely with the scheme's architect, Alan Patterson Design, Bangor, in order to deliver a contemporary and unique development, which reflects the unusual and stunning internal quality of the former quarry.

The company said that Lakeside will combine feature buildings along the lake-front, with tree lined boulevards, the development will create a genuinely private living space in the centre of Coleraine.

(BMcC/GK)