As asset managers and co-investors, Causeway Asset Management is well placed to recognise and address some of the key challenges facing development projects in Belfast. Damian Mitchell, property director, explores the strengths of the market and the crucial next steps forward.
At the moment, Belfast is one of the world’s top destinations for financial services technology investment. The city has also been recognised as Europe’s most business friendly city of its size for two years running.
The city is pro-business and it is this sentiment which has seen it experience substantial growth in investor interest levels during the last decade.
However, in order for this to continue there needs to be sustained investment in the office market with a constant stream of Grade A office space made available.
In the Council’s ‘Belfast Agenda’ they set out their long term social and economic aims for the city to achieve by 2035. They aim to create 15,000 new jobs by attracting more businesses into Belfast.
This can be done by developing the right infrastructure and supporting the regeneration of the city to build a strong city core made up of a mix of offices, retail, hotels, tourist attractions, creative industries, universities and colleges.
The new transport hub due for completion in 2020 will create an excellent first impression of Belfast as a confident and progressive capital city offering state of the art links to national and international markets while also creating new jobs, providing investment opportunities, reducing congestion and supporting the city’s successful growing economy.
Recent announcements of large scale city centre redevelopment projects such as Royal Exchange and the Sirocco site on the eastern bank of the River Lagan show that investor confidence is bolstering and the longevity of these projects prove that the fundamentals remain strong in Belfast as a city to invest in for the long term.
A large number of international household names have already invested in the city such as Allstate and CITI group. In fact Allstate are in the process of building their own 100,000 sq ft headquarters in Belfast, a sure sign of their confidence in the city.
In the Belfast Agenda the Council is aiming to have 1.5m sq ft more Grade A office space. To achieve this the Council must continue with its endeavor to work closely with the private sector.
The Council has said that it will take a flexible approach to land supply which will be based on the qualitative nature of supply including its distribution across growth sectors of the economy and areas of the city.
The Local Development Plan provides some guidance by outlining this, however developers and asset managers will welcome a flexible approach in order to be responsive to market demands.