St Helier Harbour Masterplan, St Helier for Ports of Jersey with Broadway Malyan, Mott MacDonald and Waddington

The 9-hectare St Helier Harbour Masterplan, initiated by Ports of Jersey, aims to transform the harbour’s efficiency and functionality. The masterplan reconfigures port operations, introducing new buildings, including a landmark passenger terminal, and enhancing the public realm. Freight operations will be extensively redesigned, opening up the northern harbour edge. A new plaza and linear park will offer views of Jersey’s coastline and Elizabeth Castle, providing public space for both passengers and islanders to gather and enjoy.

Who is on the project team? (designer, consultants, etc)

Lead architect and landscape architect - Broadway Malyan 

Project manager - Motts 

Architecture - Waddington 

Planning - MS Planning 

Sense of place - Louise Browne Associates 

Structural and civil - Hartigan 

Port logistics - Bodell Port Consultancy

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people.

St Helier Harbour has evolved over the past 250 years, serving islanders as a lifeline port with its associated harbours providing a safe maritime environment for its many users. At present almost 99% of all goods entering Jersey come in via the port. Much of the harbour infrastructure is aging and no longer meets the practical needs of the site in terms of moving passengers and freight in an effective and efficient way and in order to continue to do this and respond to its further needs, Ports of Jersey has initiated a programme of regeneration – the St Helier Harbour Master Plan. As well as safeguarding the long-term viability of the port, the project is also committed to significantly improving the experience of customers and over time, realising the potential for the harbour to draw islanders and visitors to a compelling cultural and tourism destination. At the heart of the masterplan are proposals to rationalise and reconfigure how the port and its associated harbours operate, creating a series of new buildings including a new landmark passenger terminal and a transformational public realm and landscape strategy.

Please describe your approach to this future place and its mix of uses. How will it function as a vibrant place? How does it knit into, and serve the needs of, the wider area? 

The key design drivers of the place-led masterplan were a determination to create a place that contributed to the health, happiness, safety, livelihoods and well-being of islanders now and into the future. Elizabeth Harbour carries a strong character defined by contextual, maritime and material clues that make up its spirit and sense of place. The design response embraces these prompts, gathered from the team’s research, and a consultation process that garnered a spectrum of views and sentiments from port users, workers and local inhabitants. A number of high quality maritime heritage assets add significantly to the genus loci, a distinctive blend of sea transport, trade, commerce, industry and leisure. The surrounding buildings provide a strong context and background from which the architecture of the new proposals draws in its massing and materials. The reconfiguration of the site and development of the new terminal building opens up the north-western aspect of the site, creating the opportunity for a new public open space that encourages visual and pedestrian connectivity into Elizabeth Marina. A new landscaped gateway garden leads to a waterside promenade along the marina edge; this takes in a winter garden and public square before culminating in a new observation pier overlooking the bay and Elizabeth Castle.

What is the social and environmental impact of the project? For example, how will the carbon use and material impact of the development be mitigated? What is the sustainability strategy? How will this future place contribute to the economic, environmental and social wellbeing of its citizens?

At the heart of the project was the embedding of sustainability in every aspect of the harbour while creating a coherent sense of place. While the new passenger terminal will significantly improve passenger flows and enhance the passenger experience, it will also provide the environmental credentials to align with the Ports of Jersey’s Planet and People Plan. This has targeted a net zero goal for the entire harbour operations by 2030. The Planet and People Plan is an employee-led initiative that has led to a range of different initiatives across the harbour area. A Statement of Sustainable Design and Construction was prepared to support the planning application for the redevelopment of Elizabeth Harbour and to ensure the scheme maximises sustainability opportunities wherever possible. The scheme design incorporates walking and cycling routes to encourage islanders to make sustainable travel decisions and the scheme also provides the potential for onshore power supply for vessels to align with the maritime industry’s decarbonisation aspirations. The design response for the new passenger terminal was also to create a building that was as close to a net zero structure as possible through the use of innovative passive design measures, improved building fabric and the introduction of various low and zero carbon technologies. The public realm design seeks to significantly reduce material sent to landfill by re-purposing existing precast concrete walls as retaining structures and creating landscape berms that will provide shelter from the wind and mounds that children will use for informal play.