21st October 2021
Bywater Properties and its joint venture partner Ashmour have today formally opened their unique Grade A office space 35DP in the heart of Belfast with a breakfast launch event which explored the opportunities that exist to help the city centre thrive in future.
35DP, which encompasses 28,777 sq ft of space across four floors, sits proudly on Donegall Place above Boots Chemists. The former bank building has been completely repositioned and refurbished by Graham Interior Fit-Out to significantly upgrade the building into a new generation of workspace for office occupiers.
The building’s layout caters to a broad range of prospective occupiers and the first tenants are expected to be confirmed before the end of this year.
Bywater also revealed today that a new coffee kiosk at the entrance to 35DP facing on to Donegall Place will be operated by specialist coffee shop business General Merchants, their fifth site in Belfast and first in the city centre.
Guests were welcomed to look around the building following a breakfast briefing on the theme of Steering the Way Forward for Belfast, which featured a panel of speakers including Belfast City Council chief executive Suzanne Wylie, Invest NI executive director for international business Steve Harper and Grant Thornton’s chief economist Andrew Webb.
Bywater focuses on a limited number of projects in specific cities across the UK where it believes it can make a positive sustainable impact, building and refurbishing with character and identity of place in mind, as well as an understanding of the value that exceptional urban projects can bring to the communities in which they are located.
Theo Michell from Bywater said: “Bywater and Ashmour have invested in several projects in Belfast since 2014 and we continue to believe in the city’s potential as the economy bounces back from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. We were delighted to formally open 35DP by debating that potential and how the business community can work together to collectively realise it for the good of everyone in Northern Ireland.”
Ashley Stewart from Ashmour added: “35DP puts occupiers at the heart of the city centre with access to all of its amenities and has already drawn significant interest from many different types of companies. The past two years have shown us that workspace needs to be flexible, sustainable and geared towards helping people collaborate. As they adjust to new hybrid working models, people want to be excited by their place of work, so we’re really pleased to be able to announce General Merchants will be part of the 35DP offer too.”
While the fitout of each floor of 35DP will be tailored to its occupier, the refurbishment of the building means it already has new shower facilities, cycle storage and drying rooms, as well as other new services throughout. The re-design of the building has also created a modern, dedicated entrance foyer, which features a specially commissioned artwork by local artist Esther O’Kelly entitled Woods and Water.
Savills has been appointed as letting agents for 35DP.
Pictured (L-R) ahead of a breakfast briefing to mark the opening of 35DP in Belfast are Steve Harper from Invest NI, Suzanne Wylie from Belfast City Council, Andrew Webb from Grant Thornton and Theo Michell and Patrick O’Gorman from Bywater. Photo by Matt Mackey, Press Eye.