Approval granted for £60million City Quays 5 development

Belfast Harbour has welcomed Belfast City Council’s decision to grant planning approval for the latest phase of its waterfront City Quays development, a nine-storey mixed-use building which will be known as City Quays 5.

Part of the City Quays Masterplan, City Quays 5 will become part of the transformational, contemporary, sustainable development which currently includes commercial offices, retail, and multi-storey car parking, as well as the AC by Marriott Hotel.

City Quays 5 will comprise 160,000 sq ft of space over nine floors and will be located directly opposite the Belfast Harbour Office.

The development will include Grade A office space, ground floor retail and exhibition space, and a roof-top hospitality destination that will be available to both the public and office users with external terracing benefiting from views across City Quays Gardens, the new public green space currently being constructed next to the Belfast Harbour Office.

Kevin Ryan, development director at Belfast Harbour, said: “Working collaboratively with Belfast City Council and Department of Communities’ Historic Environment Division I am pleased we have been able to secure this approval within six months. Creating an iconic waterfront and a vibrant inner harbour continues to be one of Belfast Harbour’s key strategic goals and we are pleased that planning has been granted to progress the next phase of our wider City Quays Masterplan Vision.

“Aligning with our environmental goals, we are also targeting the BREEAM Outstanding certification for City Quays 5, which would be the highest standard achieved to-date for a new office development in Northern Ireland, helping to set the standard for future developments in the city.”

Belfast Harbour also has planning permission for City Quays 4, residential accommodation that will be made up of 256 ‘Build to Rent’ units in a building next to the AC by Marriott Hotel along with approval to build 69 new affordable homes, which will be located at Pilot Street in Sailortown.

City Quays 3, a 16-storey sustainable office building, opened on the waterfront at Belfast Harbour in 2023 and is now home to a range of blue-chip tenants.