This week marked a significant milestone in the ongoing project to refurbish and modernise one of the largest and most prominent office buildings in Belfast city centre.

The completion of the striking new lobby at Nine Lanyon Place is the first part of an ongoing programme to make the building future-fit.

Nine Lanyon Place has a significant place in the recent history of the province, having been the first Grade A office space to be built in Belfast following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The plans for an office building on the site were announced in November of that year and construction commenced in 1999 with completion in autumn 2000.

Declan Flynn, Managing Director at Lisney with Damian Mitchell, Property Director at Causeway Asset Management

The building offers 150,000 sq ft of prime office space set over six floors. The refurbishment project, which is being delivered by Causeway Asset Management, represents an overall investment of £8million with completion expected in Q4 2018.

Nine Lanyon Place will be the second building in Belfast to be rated by WiredScore, the internationally recognised commercial real estate rating system for digital connectivity. It follows Causeway’s WiredScore certified Chichester House scheme that was announced in early November.

Wired Certification enables agents and tenants to find accurate and detailed information about a building’s digital infrastructure and gives landlords an independent means of improving and promoting their buildings’ capabilities in a transparent way.

The certification is rapidly becoming a global benchmark with WiredScore currently having a presence in the USA, UK, France, Ireland, Germany and most recently Canada, where at the end of October Seven Toronto office buildings had already received the countries first WiredScore Certifications.

The refurbishment at Nine Lanyon Place will deliver flexible fit-out options and accommodate contemporary, open-plan working areas, break out zones, private offices and group meeting space.

Damian Mitchell, property director at Causeway Asset Management, said: “It’s rare that a building of this size becomes available in such a prime location and we think it will be incredibly attractive to major FDI investors and leading professional firms looking at or currently in Belfast; 25,000 sq ft floorplates don’t become available often.

“We are focused on making sure that the development not only delivers what tenants want today but what they are going to need in the future and we have consulted extensively with those seeking office space to meet their requirements. Reliable connectivity which will be certified by WiredScore forms part of the ‘Future-Fit Space’ concept being applied by Causeway here and in our other ongoing development at Chichester House. This concept puts connectivity and technological building advancements at the forefront of our building design.

He added: “Our fit out team has also worked tirelessly to create an interior concept at Nine Lanyon Place in which work space feels more like living space and the boundaries between home life, work life, the indoors and outdoors merge to form a unique working environment. We have no doubt that this flexible, innovative and unique space will be highly sought after.”

Lisney and Lambert Smith Hampton have been appointed as letting agent on the building.

Further information can be obtained by visiting www.ninelanyonplace.com