Richland Group has unveiled updated plans for its £65m major new office scheme at the Movie House cinema site in Belfast City Centre ahead of submitting plans to Belfast City Council later today.
Subject to consent, One Bankmore Square will be the first speculative scheme in the city since the Soloist building in 2008 and will be the largest single office building in Northern Ireland.
The scheme comprises 250,000 sq ft of grade-A offices, with 8,000 sq ft of ground-floor space for cafés, shops and leisure, located at Bankmore Square on the Dublin Road. Each floorplate will offer 25,000 sq ft of net useable space.
Gary McCausland, chief executive of Richland Group, said: “One Bankmore Square is a quantum leap for Belfast’s office market, it brings world-class grade-A office accommodation to the heart of the city centre in a single phase development. We have assembled a brilliant home-grown professional team to deliver this exciting project and we look forward to seeing it through to completion in 2020.”
Dougie Wheeler of Lambert Smith Hampton, which is leasing the scheme with Savills, added: ““It is evident from the record take-up in 2016 and strong start to 2017 that there continues to be a high level of demand in the occupier market for good quality office accommodation in Belfast. However, there continues to be a shortage of grade-A offices in the city centre, especially for the larger occupiers with requirements for 25,000 sq ft and above.”
One Bankmore Square is near to Belfast City Hall and the new £250m Transport Hub for Belfast. The proposal also includes the transformation of Bankmore Square into a focal public open space with potential for an outdoor cinema and public art exhibitions.
Simon McEvoy, head of office agency at Savills, added: “The opportunity to placemake has been a driving factor behind the design of One Bankmore Square and the adjoining public plaza. Richland Group envisages the reinvigoration of the existing natural amenity, Bankmore Square, as central to the development and it is evident from the feedback we are receiving that the proposed scheme has already caught the imagination of the business community and the general public.”
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