FOR about seven marching seasons during the 2000s, I had the privilege of working with the Parades Commission (PC) as they set about the most thankless task in Northern Ireland, deciding on contentious parades and whether certain marches should be restricted or not.
In my time with the organisation the membership of the PC changed in whole three times, and every one of the commissioners was absolutely committed to making the best, most informed and most helpful set of decisions when it came to parading in Northern Ireland.
I retain the utmost respect for all members of the commission I worked with. No matter what conclusion they came to there was always at least one person or party who was offended, or felt they should better be perceived as being offended and they would howl in protest at the commission.
During that time the Parades Commission was the most high profile tenant of Windsor House, on Bedford Street, said to be Ireland's tallest commercial building. That meant that the weekly press briefings and photocalls of protesters and political parties took place at the front of Windsor House, making that building a familiar sight to the public in Northern Ireland.
Windsor House is in the public eye once again. The building has been sold, re sold and like a number of commercial properties in Belfast, became a Nama property before being bought up by the Hastings Group last month.
If you want an indication of how crazy the property market became, bear in mind that the building was originally sold in 2007 for £30million, to a Co Cavan based property developer who intended to convert Windsor House to apartments (I'm sure the brochure would have refereed to 'chic city living dwellings'). Now, eight years on the reported fee paid by Hastings is £6.5m. That's some difference.
The good news is that the Hastings Group don't appear to be sitting on their hands; architects have been engaged and a planning application is in the pipeline. The end result will be a new city centre hotel which will employ 150 people when fully operational.
The Hastings Group will have weighed the investment decision very carefully and they refer to an urgent demand that the hotel sector requires to satisfy the growing business activity and the increase in tourism prospects
Just across the road from the planned new hotel, the Galgorm Group which already runs the successful resort and spa outside Ballymena, are planning a new hotel at the Scottish Mutual building opposite the rear entrance to Belfast City Hall.
So, two new hotels within a few feet of each other, new restaurants opening on a regular basis with a plentiful supply in planning stage, and if developers are anything to go by, it appears that Belfast is on the verge of a huge renaissance.
It is certainly true that when the big conference events come to town, and when major rock and pop stars are playing in the Odyssey or at outdoors venues, hotel rooms are hard to come by, so additional provision is very welcome. That will all help the new conference facilities at the extended Waterfront to succeed, and there stands another display of confidence in our city. The more people coming to Belfast, be it for leisure breaks or on business, the better for Belfast.
Slowly but surely the infrastructure of Belfast is taking shape, between hotel, conference and leisure provision and even the fantastic Belfast Bikes scheme, we are increasingly resembling a modern European city - open and welcoming for tourists, notwithstanding the silly remarks from Game of Thrones actor playing to a US TV studio audience.
Some of the main players in making Belfast work are changing their roles. On her departure from the Deti role, outgoing minister Arlene Foster was widely lauded for the job done over the previous seven years and rightly so. Without resorting to the record books I would guess that to be the longest stand one Minister has had at a department - aside from the first and deputy first ministers - and Arlene left a mark.
During her period there was a unity of purpose between the department and Invest NI and there was no let up in the drive to attract foreign direct investment to Northern Ireland. Jonathan Bell assumes that role and any time I have seen him speaking on business issues he does so with a passion that will serve us well.
John McGrillen will take up the chief executive role at Tourism NI in the coming months and in Terence Brannigan there is a new chairman in place there too. The annual switch of lord mayors has taken place and Sinn Fein's Arder Carson has an important role over the next year.
All of these people have our best wishes as they set about helping Belfast and Northern Ireland reach its full potential.
It is probably too much to hope that by the time the Parades Commission moves out of Windsor House to find new premises the marching issues will have been fully resolved, but at least Northern Ireland will be in a better place than it was when the commission was first established.
