New office and retail building planned for Belfast

Belfast will get another huge multimillion-pound office and retail building, capable of housing 1,000 staff, if fresh proposals are given the green light. Plans are now under way to turn a city centre car park and 1980s building into a 100,000 sq ft mixed-use development.Orby Investment, which is headed by David and Andrew Calvert, wants permission to knock down the building at Chichester Street and construct the new eight-storey office development in its place.It will also feature retail space on the ground floor.Design plans show what the new modern, glass-clad office building could look like.A previous application for a similar scheme was awarded planning permission back in 2011, but has since lapsed.The new office building is being designed by Belfast-based Todd Architects.Those behind the scheme have said “there is presently a severe lack of grade A office accommodation in Belfast city centre and an identified need from a number of foreign direct investors”.They added that the 100,000 sq ft development would “go some distance to meeting these requirements” and “could accommodate some 1,000-plus employees”.