Historic Crumlin Road Courthouse could be set for new life as Neurodiversity Campus

The derelict Crumlin Road Courthouse in Belfast

Plans to transform Belfast’s historic Crumlin Road Courthouse into a Neurodiversity Campus have reached an important milestone after a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) was formally accepted by planners at Belfast City Hall.

The PAN, submitted by BBE (NI) Ltd and considered on Monday 26 January, relates to the future redevelopment of the long-derelict courthouse on the Crumlin Road, a landmark building that has stood vacant and deteriorating since its closure in 1998.

A Proposal of Application Notice is a mandatory step in the Northern Ireland planning process and must be submitted at least 12 weeks before any application for major or national planning permission. Its purpose is to initiate pre-application community consultation, setting out how developers will engage with local residents and stakeholders before detailed plans are finalised.

The application, that was submitted to the Belfast City Council Planning Committee, seeks permission for the “retention, partial demolition, restoration, conservation, extension and adaptive reuse of the Crumlin Road Courthouse.”

Under the proposals, the Grade A-listed building would be converted into a Neurodiversity Campus, providing specialist educational, residential, therapeutic, enterprise and community facilities, along with associated site works, infrastructure and landscaping.

Manor Architects are acting as agent for the scheme.

A Neurodiversity Campus is designed as an inclusive educational environment that recognises and supports variations in thinking and learning, including Autism, ADHD and Dyslexia.

Rather than viewing such differences as deficits, the model promotes understanding, acceptance and the valuing of diverse strengths, offering tailored support for neurodivergent individuals.

The plans represent a potential turning point for one of Belfast’s most architecturally and historically significant buildings.

Designed in the neoclassical style by renowned architect Charles Lanyon, the courthouse was completed in 1850 and deliberately constructed opposite the Crumlin Road Gaol. An underground tunnel once linked the two buildings, allowing prisoners to be transferred directly between them.

For many years, the courthouse also served as the home of Antrim County Council. Among those who passed through its cells and courtrooms were figures who would later shape Irish political history, including former Irish Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, former First Minister Ian Paisley and IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.

While the neighbouring Crumlin Road Gaol has enjoyed a dramatic revival—becoming a major tourist attraction, conference venue and wedding location, and more recently the home of the McConnell’s whiskey distillery—the courthouse has not shared in that success.

Since closing its doors in 1998, the building has suffered from worsening decay and dereliction, and has been the target of repeated arson attacks. A succession of planning proposals have failed to materialise, leaving the structure increasingly vulnerable.

In recent years, English property developer Lawrence Kenwright sought permission to redevelop the courthouse as a luxury hotel featuring a lounge bar, restaurant, function suite, rooftop bar, swimming pool, treatment rooms and 55 en-suite bedrooms. That scheme collapsed after the developer’s companies went into administration.

The site is now owned by investor David Mahon, the Donegal Orange Order Grand Master, who has previously proposed hotel and apart-hotel uses for the building.

The acceptance of the PAN does not constitute planning approval, but it does clear the way for public consultation and more detailed proposals to be brought forward.

For a building that has spent more than two decades in limbo, the move offers fresh hope that the Crumlin Road Courthouse could finally be restored and given a sustainable new purpose—one rooted not in its past as a place of confinement, but in support, inclusion and opportunity for future generations.