Three potential new shopping centres totalling an incredible 1.8m sq ft of new space are on the drawing board. The Department of the Environment has appointed consultants to undertake an appraisal of the different sites and proposals and help advise the DoE on which scheme to support. The property market is very strong. The three pdevelopments which have been proposed for Belfast include one from a consortium of developers which include Dunloe Ewart, MEPC and John Laing Property. The second scheme has been proposed by the Dutch group Multi-Development Corporation and the third proposal has been lodged by Land Securities and the Deramore Group.
Demand is very strong - just as business is global so too is retail.
According to Jago Bret, also from LSH, their latest property review shows this is also the case when it comes to office accommodation in Belfast. There are certain prime locations in Belfast which still command the most attention. There is strong demand from this market. We started off at at quite a low base in terms of office rents. Some new schemes are already at these levels.