Take Back the City is a coalition of families in housing need and experts in planning, architecture, and design. The group was formed in 2020 to develop sustainable solutions to Belfast’s housing crisis through a community led process.

This project, won through international competition in early 2023, proposes a masterplan for up to 900 homes on a 25-acre former textile factory site, Mackie’s in West Belfast. Characterised by an outstanding and unusual urban topography, this publicly-owned site is an ideal location for a major piece of city regeneration and renewal. See the project website

We are developing a masterplan for the site around the core aims of connectivity across the Forth River Valley - links between different communities whilst embracing sustainability and habitability. Our aspiration is to build a place of unity and fairness where neighbours are judged equally whatever their background, values, religion, or traditions.