LONDON: The government’s HM Revenue and Customs office has formally signed an agreement with Orby Investment Ltd to lease Erskine House on Belfast’s Chichester Street for 25 years – as revealed in the Irish News in March. The taxman will be taking an estimated 104,220 sq ft of office space, eventually accommodating around 1,600 full-time equivalent employees, the first of whom are expected to move in from late 2019.
The new eight- storey office development will house retail units at ground level and HMRC will take the other seven floors of the building, which will bring the highest standards of office accommodation ever seen in Belfast. A spokesperson for Orby Investment Ltd said: “We’re delighted to be facilitating the creation of hundreds of new jobs in Belfast and look forward to bringing world-class standards of office accommodation to the city centre. “We believe Erskine House will deliver further significant economic benefit to surrounding cafes, restaurants and retailers and the addition of the new building to Chichester Street will be a boost to the city as it continues to establish itself as an attractive place to live and work.” HMRC will be taking an estimated 104,220 sq ft of office space which by 2021 will accommodate around 1,600 employees in areas including risk and intelligence, fraud investigation and business compliance.
Erskine House is the fourth of the 13 new regional centres HMRC has announced, as part of its transformation plans to create a tax authority fit for the future. Simon McEvoy and Neal Morrison of Savills in Belfast, who advised Orby Investment Ltd, added: “HMRC’s decision to proceed with Erskine House is one of the largest ever pre-lets in Belfast and off the back of a record take-up in 2016 it reaffirms the underlying strength of demand in the office market.” Orby Investment Ltd has assembled a highly experienced professional team including Todd Architects, Bruce Shaw LLP, Caldwell Consulting and Ian Black Consulting. Construction of the new building is expected to start in the autumn. HMRC were advised by Rory McConnell of McConnell Chartered Surveyors who are the JLL Alliance Partner in Northern Ireland.
