An award winning urban regeneration project in inner East Belfast, which provides shared space for community transformation and renewal.

At the heart of the Skainos development, a new street and civic square have forged a genuinely shared space, untouched by the history of the Troubles. This square is designed to accommodate open air events such as concerts, farmer's markets and Christmas fairs, and is overlooked by new, mixed tenure housing which provides a living presence round the clock. Sheils Flynn has designed the new public square, adjacent streets, roof gardens and community gardens. A dramatic sculpted 'rain garden' at the focal point of the scheme also functions as a sustainable urban drainage system. It is surrounded by stone seating blocks with an abstract design which evokes the striking upland scarps which surround this part of Belfast and the adjacent lough wetlands which once extended across this part of the city. The project has recently won a Civic Trust Award.

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