Fresh bid to develop 131 flats alongside café, library, gym & salon at Tillie and Henderson site famously mentioned by Karl Marx

A fresh bid to develop the Tillie and Henderson site has been submitted on behalf of the owner, Rajesh Rana, and the Andras House Hotel Group.
The Tillie and Henderson Factory site. (2202PG09)The Tillie and Henderson Factory site. (2202PG09)
The Tillie and Henderson Factory site. (2202PG09)

The proposals, submitted by PS Projects, are to erect 131 apartments across three distinct blocks, Abercorn (64 units), Tillie’s (32 units) and Henderson (35).

A cafe, library, hair salon and gym are also proposed, alongside parking spaces, communal amenity space and other facilities.

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The site has lain vacant for almost 20 years, the historic shirt factory that once stood there having been demolished after a fire in 2003.

Karl Marx mentioned the factory in ‘Das Kapital, during an analysis of the reliance of the factory system on decentralised cottage industries.

“Besides the factory operatives...whom it concentrates in large masses at one spot, and directly commands, capital also sets in motion, by means, of invisible threads, another army; that of the workers in the domestic industries, who dwell in the large towns and are also scattered over the face of the country. An example: The shirt factory of Messrs. Tillie [sic] at Londonderry, which employs 1,000 operatives in the factory itself, and 9,000 people spread up and down the country and working in their own houses,” he wrote.

A Design and Access Statement prepared by MKA Planning on behalf of the applicant states: “The Tillie and Henderson site has an important role to play in the regeneration of this part of Derry/Londonderry City. This is a significant site at the entrance to Derry/Londonderry City Centre.

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“The mixed use proposal by PS Projects aims to address the difficult topographical constraints of the site, honour the historical heritage of the site, meet the need for housing in this part of the city, help regenerate and revitalise the city centre and provide a quality residential environment.”