A FORMER city centre police station reopens today as one of the Belfast's highest-spec office developments following a multi-million pound investment by a UK investment firm.
The 13-storey River House in High Street, owned by Castleforge Partners in London, is seen as being at the forefront of the business evolution of Belfast and represents a new wave of office and commercial space, creating space for more than 1,000 staff.
The building, originally constructed in 1970 and which was purchased in 2016 having acted as a PSNI station, now comprises co-working space and private offices, and will bring significant footfall to the area.
Rachael Pittaway, developer at Castleforge Partners, said: “We looked at the reasons why companies come to Belfast and Northern Ireland - its highly skilled workforce and the relatively affordable cost of living - and we wanted to capitalise on the projected growth in overseas businesses locating here.
“Our commitment to Belfast and its future economic growth is clear. Since we purchased the building, we've upgraded every aspect of it to the highest specification, making it the only grade A serviced office facility in Cathedral Quarter."
River House recently welcomed its first corporate tenant, TLT, who have leased the top two floors of the building to accommodate the growth in its business and employee numbers.
The building also includes Clockwise, a five floor co-working space for small-to-medium sized companies who want to locate themselves in the city’s commercial centre, without the associated costs of traditional office space.
In addition to premium office space, River House has state-of-the-art meeting rooms, an on-site coffee bar, breakout areas and an extensive rooftop terrace, all of which are available for all tenants to use.
Property agent CBRE recently held its UK National Office Agency conference at River House.
Lisa Walshe from the agency said: “Our Belfast team had watched the development of River House with excitement and we jumped at the opportunity to hold our national conference in their events facility.
"Around 60 employees from all over the UK attended and no other venue in Belfast could offer what they could, right in the heart of the city. As well as everything being brand new, it’s a great space with great natural light and has been designed in a really forward-thinking way.
“We would wholly recommend it to other corporates wanting to do something a bit different to a traditional hotel in a great central location.”
