Estates Gazette was back in Belfast last week for our latest Question Time event in association with Savills, Bank of Ireland and CRS. And if last year’s debut debate was about how the Northern Irish capital could build on its recovery, this year’s focused on how the city could capitalise on strengthening occupier demand.
The dearth of prime office space in the city dominated discussions. All panellists agreed that Belfast needed more quality space; the debate lay in where it should be and how it could be delivered. With the likes of the BBC and several professional services firms all eying a move, the sense of urgency in the room was palpable.
Panellists at the event, held at the Merchant Hotel in the Cathedral Quarter, said tenants were driving the market. Rents in the city are currently hovering at £16-£17 per sq ft, which panellists said was below the £18 per sq ft that developers saw as the starting point for speculative development.
But the industry was urged to take a risk and build speculatively, and in so doing end the current impasse in which, according to Lacuna Developments managing director Anthony Best, “the tail is wagging the dog”. Developers with strong capital backing should be willing to take some of the initial development risk to kick-start building, he said.
However, all of the panellists agreed that Belfast needed more development and finance initiatives to help boost rents.
Craig Logan, director, corporate banking, at the Bank of Ireland, said his bank was willing to lend but was frustrated by a lack of projects to get behind.
Suzanne Wylie, chief executive of Belfast city council, said that the delivery of grade-A offices was “the number one priority” for the council in order to attract businesses and bring jobs into the city. By doing so, she said, Belfast could emulate Manchester.
“We are light years away but aim high,” she said. “Our pool of skills and talent is the number-one selling point for Belfast to attract foreign direct investment.”
Titanic Quarter, one of the world’s largest urban waterfront schemes, stretching across 185 acres, was singled out for being too far out of the city centre for many prospective occupiers, while the city’s “Learning Quarter”, centred around the new £250m University of Ulster campus, could offer occupiers more choice.
Wylie said that the new university would have a “massive catalytic effect” on the city centre and that the benefits were already being felt. The council was currently processing 17 student residential planning applications in the surrounding area, she said.
Neal Morrison, director at Savills Northern Ireland, said this new development could breathe life back into the city and be a building block for the development of a tech and digital hub in Belfast.
Deloitte technology partner Danny McConnell said research showed that with the right level of infrastructure the city could become “huge” in the various high-tech sectors. Deloitte itself is looking to expand by a further 400 employees in the city by 2019, he added.
With many developers seizing on residential opportunities – and Belfast set to encourage more hotel and retail development, particularly in the city centre – panellists and the 120-strong audience had much to be positive about.
And even the controversy around Cerberus and Nama currently dominating the news in Northern Ireland was played down.
But for Best and others, political uncertainty in Northern Ireland was the biggest worry – it sapped confidence in investment and development and held back rental growth, they said.
