Contractors have moved on site to begin restoration work on the imposing grade B+ listed Transport House in Belfast’s High Street, which has lain idle for more than a decade.
Independent construction company Connolly & Fee, founded in 1970 in Coalisland, is the main contractor on the scheme, which is expected to take the rest of this year to complete.
The iconic Transport House, completed in 1959 as offices for the Amalgamated Transport & General Workers Union, closed in 2012, by which stage it was under the ownership of the Unite union.
It was designed by J.J. Brennan, inspired by the contemporary design of Busáras, the bus offices and terminus in Dublin designed by Michael Scott (it opened in 1953).
It was officially listed in 1994 for its special architectural interest and is among Northern Ireland’s youngest listed buildings.
At the time, Historic Buildings and Monuments described Transport House as “a very assertive building – dramatic in its impact, exhibiting a range of modernist features in a well worked out scheme.”
The building appears as two conjoined blocks (one tower is seven storeys high and the other five storeys), clad for the most part in green glazed tiles, supported at each end by pilotis. The column shafts are wrapped in black glazed tiles and the bases have a mosaic finish.
The building features raised lettering, a concrete canopy, cantilevered over the main entrance, and also a five-storey high tiled mural, set in a concave wall, depicting regional industries such as a plane, cranes, a ship, and a factory.
Unite says it will relocate its offices from its existing site on the Antrim Road - which it shares with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) - to Transport House when work is completed on the £1m-plus scheme, which will involve adding a new extension as well as reconfiguring internal spaces and creating a central meeting space and separate area which will be available for let.
Connolly & Fee, which was appointed after a robust selection process, has a proven track record in delivering building and civil engineering projects across sectors including education, community, recreation/leisure, restoration and heritage, private, affordable and social housing, and commercial.
Among recent schemes undertaken by the firm have been the refurbishment of the iconic Queen’s University film school and theatre; the RSPB visitor and research centre on Rathlin Island; restoration of the existing Grade B1 listed Coleraine Library building; and restoration of the cottages at the 180-year-old St John’s Point Lighthouse in Killough.
Connolly & Fee is currently undertaking construction of the new Gaelscoil Ui Dhochartaigh primary school and nursery at Strahans Road in Strabane.
