Work could soon start on a major hotel project in Belfast as part of the City Quays development, after a firm was appointed to begin landscaping the area.
Park Hood, based in east Belfast, has won the tender to design the area around the proposed City Quays hotel and second office complex in the Belfast Harbour development.
The company said it was “absolutely delighted to announce that we have won the design competition for City Quays”.
It’s understood the landscape architects were brought on board at the end of last week, and are being briefed on what the development could look like under Belfast Harbour’s ‘City Quays Masterplan’.
It would be the latest major city centre hotel to get under way, with around 20 at various stages of planning.
There have already been early proposals for the six to seven storey hotel building fronting the River Lagan.
It’s understood Belfast Harbour plans to develop the hotel by 2017. That’s subject to finding a company to operate it and securing the required planning permission. It confirmed in October 2014 that the “calibre and number of responses received from operators has exceeded expectations and that the hotel, with a supporting multi-storey car park, could be open by 2017”.
The City Quays development will include two large office buildings, along with plans for the City Quays hotel, once completed.
City Quays 1 was completed earlier this year, and is now home to the world’s largest law firm, Baker & McKenzie.
The City Quays project is the largest commercial venture by Belfast Harbour, which is developing the lands beside the River Lagan and M3 motorway.
The second City Quays 2 building is set to be a nine-storey structure. Construction could begin as early as this autumn.
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Caption: A computer generated image of how the City Quays development will look
