Along the ancient quay of Waterford in south eastern Ireland, a new construction project is taking shape. The pedestrian bridge, the first new bridge in the city in 400 years, will encase a part of the river that was once teeming with port traffic. They sued to say that you could walk the length of Waterford quay form ship to ship without touching land, such was the size and quantity of ships that came to call. No more.
The bridge will be the trigger for something even more ambitious. Waterford City and County Council oversees the North Quays Strategic Development Zone on the northern bank of the River Suir, where Harcourt Developments holds the lead role in a mixed-use regeneration project that received planning permission in April 2025.
The eight-hectare site, derelict since the port relocated downstream decades ago, forms part of Ireland’s largest urban regeneration initiative, with public infrastructure funded at €207m through the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund and National Transport Authority contributions. The council awarded the contract to BAM in late 2022, with works commencing in March 2023 and scheduled for completion in the final quarter of 2025, followed by commissioning of the transport hub in 2026.
The Sustainable Transport Bridge, a 207-metre structure for pedestrians, cyclists and shuttle buses, installed fully in June 2025 after arrival from Belgium in May, connects the zone to the city centre south of the Suir. The integrated transport hub relocates Plunkett station eastward and incorporates rail, bus, taxi and cycle facilities on brownfield land north of the river.
Harcourt Developments’ scheme, valued at €200m for phase one, proposes nine blocks along the northern quays that include 350 residential units, a 160-room hotel and conference centre, a 163-room aparthotel, office space covering 70,000 square feet, retail and food outlets spanning 45,000 square feet, a creche, two town squares and a waterfront promenade. The developer anticipates 200 construction jobs through 2025 and 1,200 to 1,500 permanent positions from phase one onward, with total economic input exceeding €350m over six years.
Flood defence works along a 1.1-kilometre stretch of the northern bank, including sheet piling up to 25 metres high, commence in late August 2025 and extend to March 2026 to protect the site and existing infrastructure. Access bridges over the rail corridor and a greenway link the zone internally, while the council integrates the project with the Waterford Transport Strategy to promote modal shifts towards walking and cycling.
The development extends the city centre northwards for the first time in Waterford’s history, with public realm enhancements such as plazas and a riverside boardwalk that connect to the Waterford Greenway. Site preparation advances alongside the Winterval festival, and Harcourt finalises detailed submissions for phase one construction starting in early 2026.
Waterford County Manager Seán McKeown told the Association of Visitor Attractions conference in September: When you walk across the river, you’re still in Waterford City. That’s a really important neighbourhood. My predecessor Michael was fond of describing the city as flying on one wing. with the river Suir the south of the city, So it is really important that we bring that brown field 16 acre site back in to use.
It is Ireland’s the largest regeneration project at the moment. The councils are responsible for the public realm works. We have demolished all of the ugly warehouses that were there for this used for decades, cleaned up the site, developed access infrastructure into it. A transport bridge was delivered there at the end of May with support. We are moving the train station from its current location to the heart on the site. From a connectivity point of view, and from a tourism, point of view, it will be closer and to our city centre. Our commercial paertner received planning permission earlier this year for the first phase of the development, six residential apartments, two hotels, one being a conference centre, and hotel, and the other being an aparthotel, and in the main block is some residential development.That’s a really important vote of confidence by the future of Waterford, it’s a quarter of a billion euros worth of the investment in the public works alone.
New pedestrian bridge photographed from the south bank
