DETAILS of a new luxury hotel to be built in South Belfast have been released as the ambitious project forges ahead with its planning application. Novotel, a four-star hotel, will be built on the site of the current Fanum House building on Great Victoria Street if it gets the green light. The development is currently awaiting formal planning approval but is strongly supported by the Belfast Planning Office.
South Belfast MLA Anna Lo believes that the proposal will be a double boost to the economy and tourism.
“We are trying to do all that is possible to attract visitors and investors to Belfast, but we must have enough infrastructure such as hotel rooms to ensure that we can provide them with first class services,” she said. “Building a hotel like this will send out a message to the world that Northern Ireland is open for business and that we should be viewed as a place for people to visit or to invest in.”
On completion, the building will be 15 storeys high with 173 bedrooms as well as leisure and business facilities, a public bar and a restaurant. It is estimated that the project will create up to 100 jobs during construction, as well as permanent staff positions in the hotel on completion.
Minister for the Environment, Alex Attwood, welcomed the proposed development when it was originally announced in February.
“A new hotel in Great Victoria Street would be a real boost to the tourist industry here, while creating work for the construction sector. It will also provide up to sixty new jobs, which is especially welcome in the present economic downturn. I am hopeful Belfast City Council will back the proposal.”
The scheme is part of the larger South Bank Square scheme, established by Seamus Gillan, Director of BSG Civil Engineering. Award-winning local Architects, Robinson McIlwaine, are designing the development. Construction on the new hotel is due to begin in the New Year with autumn 2014 earmarked as the completion date.
