The construction of high-quality office space and two major education hubs are among the projects that will drive development activity in Belfast city centre this year.
They are among the developments highlighted in the Deloitte's annual Belfast Crane Survey, which monitors construction activity in the city across a range of sectors including offices, residential, hotels, retail, education and student housing, and is seen as a barometer of developer sentiment and future supply.
In total, 23 major schemes were under construction or completed in Belfast in 2021. That's slightly fewer than the 24 in 2020 and the 26 built in 2019.
Seven significant projects broke ground in 2021, the same level as 2020 and the joint lowest number since the report began six years ago.
But the outlook for 2022 is also healthy for most sectors, with over 650,000 sq ft of office space to be completed across five schemes.
Despite a healthy portfolio of office projects under construction or completed in 2021, tenancy arrangements have yet to be confirmed for a large proportion of the new space, with recent ‘ working from home ’ guidelines seeing companies reassess office needs in the short-term.
Simon Bedford, partner in real estate at Deloitte, said: “Despite a number of challenges, the Belfast construction market remained resilient as office space continued to drive the development of the city centre.
“It’s encouraging to see a healthy pipeline, with 2022 set to be a record-breaking year for office development in the centre. With a move towards collaborative office spaces and a new focus on Environment, Social and Governance, occupiers are demanding more from their workspaces.
“As we move forward in 2022, these areas may need to diversify to adapt to the future of work.”
The survey also shows an emerging trend of rising refurbishments compared to new builds in the city centre, with just over a third (37%) of construction activity consisting of refurbishments.
Looking ahead and in the education sector, two major projects are also due for completion in 2022 - the Ulster University Belfast campus (Phase 2) and Queen's University's Student Centre.
The new QUB building will bring together the Students’ Union and student support teams, providing a ‘student home’ at the heart of the campus for the 24,000-student body.
The four-storey building will provide a central location for all non-faculty services on campus, including the SU, student guidance, informal learning zones, club rooms, supporting offices, multi-purpose hall, SU Bar, catering and retail outlets.
Meanwhile Ulster University's (UU) new Belfast campus will also finally complete this year.
Built at York Street, it marks one of the biggest university capital investments across the UK and Europe.
There have been a number of delays to completion of the campus, which was originally due to open in 2018.
About 15,000 students and staff are eventually expected to be based in UU's Belfast campus.
One student accommodation project was completed in 2021 on York Street, and two further projects continued in the Queen’s area and the vicinity of the new Ulster University campus.
A major new start commenced on Nelson Street, an 11-storey building, representing the largest student development in recent years.
Among the major developments completed in the city during last year were three Grade A office buildings, a city centre event space on Royal Avenue and the refurbishment of the Odyssey Pavilion into a new leisure destination.
Nine Grade A office developments were under construction or completed in 2021, amounting to over 1,000,000 sq ft of space.
This includes Bedford Square, a part new-build, part refurbishment project comprising 210,000 sq ft of office space on Bedford Street, which will be Deloitte’s new headquarters; and The Paper Exchange, an 11-storey building with 155,000 sq ft of new office floorspace.
The Ewart Building on Bedford Street, a former linen warehouse, has undergone a transformative restoration as it prepares to reopen as new city centre offices.
The four-storey warehouse was designed by James Hamilton for the Bedford Street Weaving Company and was completed in 1870.
Developers McAleer and Rushe recently revealed the restored Victorian front of the sandstone warehouse, which has been boarded up for a number of years.
Deloitte will become the anchor tenant in this new Bedford Street development and staff currently based at Deloitte’s other offices in the city will all move.
Once completed, the Belfast office will be Deloitte’s largest UK office by headcount outside of London.
Meanwhile the first cladding recently appeared on the site of the £45 million Paper Exchange project.
Located on Chichester Street and formally the site of Oxford and Gloucester House, the development is a nod to Belfast's paper creating history and is being built by acclaimed construction firm Heron Bros.
No new hotel schemes were completed in 2021, driven by both pandemic-related disruption impacting the tourism and leisure sector and a substantial volume of hotel projects having been completed between 2016-2018.
However, a new hotel development began construction last year, the 175-unit aparthotel on Queen Street, which is due for completion in 2023.
This is the first such development since a total of 1,200 rooms were finished at hotel projects in 2018.
One retail scheme was completed in Castle Place, creating 34,000 sq ft of space, while work continued on the rebuilding of the listed Bank Buildings.
The Deloitte survey also reported low numbers of residential development in the city centre over several years.
Residential development in the city centre has remained slow, with no new starts in 2021 and only 42 homes completed. However, some smaller projects are currently underway, providing some expectation of growth in the sector.
Colin Mounstephen, director at Deloitte in Belfast, said it would be great to see some of large scale residential developments break ground and move from plan into construction this year.
“With this fresh investment into city-centre living and more measures such as re-purposing buildings to fill gaps in demand, renewed focus on placemaking will be central to continuing to attract talent to the centre,” he added.
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