Opportunity awaits in Belfast, but only if it can capitalise on its uniquely positioned southern neighbour, said experts at EG’s latest Question Time debate. Photographs by Michael Cooper
While the property industry has been left reeling from the Brexit referendum in June, Belfast is uniquely placed to reap the benefits of prospects opening up for its neighbour, Dublin, which is well placed to become the only native English-speaking capital city in the EU.
Closer to home, the Northern Irish capital has had almost two decades of peace following the political and economic turmoil that came with The Troubles.
For the first time in a long time, opportunity is rife in Belfast.
It is for these reasons that Belfast should look to replicate the success of brand Ireland in attracting investment and work together with the Irish capital to open itself up to further business, according to industry heavyweights who spoke on the panel at EG’s Question Time debate in Belfast on 13 October.
Brand Ireland
Talking at Belfast’s Grand Opera House, the experts agreed that the Northern Irish government needed to be more proactive in promoting its capital.
Simon McEvoy, Savills’ director for Belfast office agency, said Dublin always had a clear idea of selling a “brand Ireland”.
“Stormont needs to be looking at our Irish neighbours to see how well they have been attracting and retaining business, and helping them grow.
“Dublin has taken the cluster effect well. Ireland has had a 20-year headstart on us due to the political system, but there is no reason why we can’t start to catch up. Dublin has always had a clear idea of what it was selling. It knew what sectors it was chasing and planned for these by investing in skills. They had the appropriate people speaking to the appropriate people, rather than taking a blanket approach.
“We can learn a lot from what they did.”
Working hand-in-hand
Suzanne Wylie, chief executive of Belfast City Council, said: “The nature of the message relating to Dublin has to change. We must form stronger relationships with Dublin’s investment agencies and look at how we can help with some of the problems which are currently happening there. I don’t think it has to be an aggressive competitive approach. It can be win-win.”
Belfast could also relieve the strain on an overheated Dublin market, according to Michael Graham, corporate real estate director at Aurora Prime Real Estate.
Craig Logan, director – Corporate banking (NI), at Bank of Ireland, added that Belfast provided a compelling proposition because of its low occupational costs and ready access to talent.
However, to capitalise on these advantages, delegates emphasised that infrastructure needed to be improved if the city was to thrive, with a refocusing on the accessibility of Dublin and air routes.
Andrew Webb, economist at Webb Advisory, suggested that Stormont was more of a hindrance than a help. “Belfast is the driver of the economy and the city doesn’t feature in the business plan of the government. They should just get out of the way and let Belfast get on with it. I would be pushing for a City Deal,” he said.
Boosting development
The debate also focused on possible solutions to the lack of liquidity in the market for commercial development.
Logan said part of the issue was an expectation that banks would return to lending at the loan-to-value ratios seen in 2006. He stressed that while banks were lending more now than before, with a maximum LTV of around 70% to finance a development site, the biggest challenge was still convincing investors that a project would be prelet.
“It is not just the equity piece which is stifling commercial development; it is take-up at the bank end as well,” he said.
But McEvoy emphasised that there needed to be a “leap of faith” to develop more stock.
He said: “I don’t think occupiers think two years in advance – they think six to nine months before they need the space. And any space in the city has been let before it has been finished.”
Information about what the opportunities are and who is already investing needs to be more accessible.
Wiley said: “We are collectively a Belfast family marketing this place. We did have a conversation at the agents’ forum about if the council was to intervene what that would look like, but nobody could come up with an answer. That has happened in other cities where councils could take out headleases and rental guarantees. I have asked if the council should build speculatively itself but I haven’t had an answer yet as to what would lead us to that.
“We have the finance available and the public sector is prepared to take the right leap of faith, but we need to take some time to decide what that will be.”
Unsophisticated lending market
It was a topic that proved contentious with delegates and, speaking from the audience, Conor Devine of GDP Partnership expressed frustration that lending in Belfast was not sophisticated enough.
He said: “In Dublin there are 20 finance houses providing funding, and in the UK there are different houses. There is an appetite for a new form of financier in what is an unsophisticated market in Northern Ireland. The city council has done well, but we all need to up our game.”
However, the mood remained positive, with Graham pointing to Belfast’s quality of life and global brands as a key driver for future success.
“We have a science park and a film studio which is a global brand with Game of Thrones, which came from nowhere. We have 600,000 people a year coming to visit and the future is very bright.”
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