New funding application being considered for Steeple site

ANTRIM and Newtownabbey Borough Council is exploring a new application for funding for the development of Steeple Park and Steeple House.

The listed historic Garden Demesne, which sits behind Antrim Civic Centre, includes the town’s famous ‘round tower’ and Steeple House, the former council HQ, which has lain in ruins since an arson attack in 2019.

Plans to help finance redevelopment of the site by selling a parcel of land for development were quashed earlier that year.

The council has had a statutory obligation of protecting the house and outbuilding. A number of planned projects have failed to get off the ground over the years, despite multiple reports and studies having been carried out.

The former monastic site has significant historical connections to the origins of the town, the Battle of Antrim, the Skeffington, Massereene and Ferrard families, and many other important figures and events.

A confidential report before the Community Development Committee last month said that, following the 2019 fire at Steeple House, ‘a number of short-term measures were put in place to protect the ruins from further degradation and to keep the public away from the potentially dangerous site’.

The report said that these measures, which included plastic sheeting to cover the exposed wall heads and fencing around the ruins, was still currently in place.

The Community Planning Committee heard in June 2022, that the development of the parkland element of the project was estimated at a redacted cost, and it was agreed to appoint an architect to progress the project specification and to submit an application to the National Lottery’s Heritage Fund (NLHF).

It was reported to the Policy and Governance Committee in November 2022 that the ‘Steeple Complex capital project’ was at initiation stage and funding for the Parkland element was being explored. An update was reported to the February 2023 council meeting, when it was advised that the project scope included three distinct elements - the parkland, house and outbuildings, with all costs redacted.

An update on the Parkland element of the project was reported to the February 2024 council meeting, when it was advised that, following more detailed design works by the architect, the estimate of this element of the project had risen and that an application for 70% of this funding had been submitted to the NLHF with an initial offer having been made for a development phase.

The May 2024 Policy and Governance Committee meeting heard that, ‘based upon the constraints of affordability and requirement for prioritisation’, a review of the Capital Programme and Capital Project Management Process had begun.

In terms of the current situation, the minutes of the most recent meeting said that the review commenced in mid-2024, and included all elements of the capital project.

In October 2024, as part of this review, Cogent Management Consultants working with Consarc Conservation and Outscape Outdoor Recreation were asked to review the project in its entirety and ‘produce an outline business case focusing on achieving value for money and including proposals to ensure the council could discharge its statutory obligations of protecting the house and outbuildings’.

The minutes said: “Their expert opinion on the initial project total estimate was that it was highly likely to rise significantly given unknown factors associated with the house, outbuildings and access as well as the significant cost inflation experienced across the market in relation to capital projects.

“The outline business case was in the final stages of development and would be presented to members at the capital projects workshop in November 2025.

“Throughout this process officers had maintained communications with the NLHF and updated them on proposed revisions to the project scope which had moved from a single focus on the Parkland to include all three elements of the complex.

“The NLHF had supported this approach and confirmed their recognition of the significant heritage value of this site, in particular the centuries of history contained within the Parkland, but also in relation the House and Outbuildings.

“They had advised officers that given the refocus of the project the Council should submit a new application for funding, commencing with an initial Expression of Interest for the revised proposals for the site, which if successful would lead on to an application for up to 70% of the total funding for the project.

“A number of cost options for the project were being developed as part of the outline business case to be reported to the Capital Projects workshop.”

It was said that the outline business case would require committee approval to move through stage one of the capital project management process, which would then be followed by stage two, requiring the development of a full business case, planning and procurement.

The minutes said that the submission of an Expression of Interest ‘ was considered prudent to do this at this stage as the potential for funding support for the project would help inform future reports to be taken in line with the Capital Project Management process. It was proposed by Antrim Town DUP Councillor Paul Dunlop and seconded by Antrim Town SDLP Councillor Roisin Lynch and agreed that the commencement of a new funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund through the submission of an Expression of Interest for a revised Steeple Complex project brief, be approved.