Flax Trust A Historical Overview

Built a Shopping Centre which includes a supermarket, post office, pharmacy, fancy good store, florist, community based organisations and an internet cafe, coffee shop, offices and workshops providing services to the local communities;

Developed affordable housing projects;

Assisted Bannside Development Centre, in Portadown, a socio-economic regeneration initiative which also serves to bridge the religious divide and promote mutual understanding;

Initiated the Foyer Project which assists homeless and unemployed young people age 16-25, providing accommodation, independent living and developing skills to enhance employability;

In the late 1980’s in a joint venture with Bombardier Aerospace redeveloped the derelict Belfast Co-operative department store in York Street into a 180,000 sq ft excellent ‘neutral’ city centre block. Interpoint houses a range of new technology based businesses, has housed the Northern Ireland Forum for Reconciliation; the Patton Police Commission; the Northern Ireland Injuries Compensation Review; the Northern Ireland Justice Review; the government departments of Culture, Arts & Leisure; was home for the Novatech initiative which developed new technology-based venture through a unique process of technology transfer and licensing;

In the mid 1990’s initiated the creation of Ulster Community Investment Trust Ltd providing dedicated financial and monitoring support to socio-economic enterprises in Northern Ireland and the border counties. UCIT is in the forefront of social economy development initiatives in the UK and Ireland.;

During 2002 the Flax Trust initiated Belfast Beacon which has now established itself as the preferred tecnology/networks solutions provider to the target area within North Belfast;

In 2003 initiated Belfast Local Television (BLTV), a new local cable network based in North Belfast providing a multi-purpose television studio, production and post production facilities

Initiated the School for Social Entrepreneurs which was set up in 2003 by the Flax Trust and the University of Ulster in response to the need for high quality education, training and development for the growing social economy sector.