Property developers seeking to inject funds into new building ventures in the centre of Belfast are increasingly looking up.
A number of new projects could soon see the city’s skyline transformed with some of tallest residential schemes ever built on the island.
Three of the tallest new developments in the pipeline have one thing in common. They all could soon tower over the M3.
Two of the projects have already been approved by Belfast City Council.
Belfast Harbour is behind the bid for a new 23 storey tower along the River Lagan, next to the AC Marriott Hotel.
The build-to-rent City Quays 4 residential scheme, which is set to reach 76.4 metres, is on course to become the third tallest apartment development on the island.
In terms of Irish apartment schemes, only the nearby Obel tower (85 metres) and Capital Dock in Dublin (79 metres) are currently taller.
The planning approval for the City Quays 4 scheme was granted on January 16 2024.
During that same meeting of Belfast City Council’s planning committee, McAleer and Rushe secured approval for another large build-to-rent scheme on nearby Corporation Street.
At 19 storeys, the apartment scheme would reach just over 62 metres.
Now a third high-rise development has emerged in the same vicinity.
Dublin-based investment firm Elkstone has unveiled its bid to develop the tallest ever student accommodation tower in the north to date.
The company, which has already built a student accommodation scheme at Bradbury Place, and proposed another next to Sandy Row, announced 39 Corporation Street as the location of its next venture last May.
Originally proposed as a 850-unit residential scheme for students, Elkstone’s finalised plans, which have been published in recent days, now propose 895-units for the site.
At one time the Belfast base for Allstate, and more recently the location for north Belfast’s jobs and benefits office, Elkstone want to clear the site and build up to 20 storeys.
- Officials signal approval for 700 residential units in central Belfast, including a new 23 storey waterfront towerOpens in new window
- Newton Emerson: Can Titanic Loft Lines vision of car-free living work?Opens in new window
- Titanic Quarter: Belfast’s largest student accommodation scheme granted planning permissionOpens in new window
At 62 metres, 39 Corporation Street would match the McAleer & Rushe scheme next door.
In terms of visual scale, the 62 metre structure would equal the height of BT’s Riverside Tower and rise one metre above Belfast’s Divis Tower.
Ambitions to build upwards for liveable space isn’t new in the city.
Started in 2006 and completed in 2010, Belfast’s Obel tower rises five metres above the Grand Central Hotel’s 80 metres, to make it the tallest habitable building on the island.
However, the property crash put an end to some of the most ambitious projects on the table, including the U2 Tower, which would have reached 130 metres above Dublin’s Grand Canal Dock.
The site was later developed into the 79 metre Capital Dock building.
The 120 metre Watchtower hotel in Dublin also fell foul of the post-crash period.
Meanwhile in Belfast, a bid to build a 30 storey apartment tower above Sailortown in 2019 came to nothing.
But following the completion of the 74 metre City Quays 3 and 73 metre Ewart office buildings in Belfast, high rise ambitions have returned for residential developers.
The 57 metre ‘Loft Lines’ residential scheme, next to Titanic Belfast, is well on its way.
In Dublin, the 82.1 metre College Square tower and the 52.7 metre East Wharf development, which are both under construction, include residential space.
So it’s perhaps no surprise that, with the fall in demand for office space in city centres post-Covid, investors are looking skywards with residential ambitions in 2025.
