Killultagh lodges 100,000 sq ft Belfast office plans

Frank Boyd’s development company Killultagh has lodged plans for a 100,000 sq ft office scheme in Belfast city centre.   The company plans to build a 12-storey building at 30-32 Linenhall Street in the city’s so-called Linen Quarter.   It is the second planning application for offices lodged by Boyd – who owns half of £1.5bn Belfast-based developer William Ewart with business partner Andrew Creighton – in this quarter of the city in the past three months.   It follows plans for an 80,000 sq ft office scheme at 83-91 Adelaide Street lodged with Belfast planners at the beginning of the year.   Killultagh only finished a 76,000 sq ft office block – dubbed The Linenhall – at the nearby 32-38 Linenhall Street in the second half of 2006.   The two new schemes are expected to have a combined development value of £130m and will help plug a shortage of Grade A space in the city centre.   Ian Duddy, director of business space at Colliers CRE in Belfast, which is sole letting agent on both of the new schemes, says: “The Linenhall let out fairly well and office rents have continued to grow since that time.”   He added: “It is a sign of Killultagh’s confidence in the Belfast market that they are continuing to grow in the office sector.”   Duddy said lettings at The Linenhall had “established a body of evidence” for city centre office rents of £14 per sq ft, meaning the new schemes will be marketed at £15 to £16 per sq ft in 12-18 months’ time.   Killultagh also completed the first of four office buildings planned at Yorkgate Park to the north of Belfast city centre last year.