The main financial services building at Titanic Quarter will take the form of a series of connected elements, grouped around a central raised linking courtyard according to Todd Architects. The development is part of Phase Three of the Titanic Quarter project and received planning approval in November 2010 for a fourteen storey building with ground floor shops, cafes and restaurants and office space in the remaining areas. The planning permission specificed specific requirements in relation to businesses that could set up within the building due to objections to the development. Construction is likely to begin in 2012 and last up to three years.

Financial Services Campus Planning History
The planning application for the financial services campus as part of phase three of Titanic Quarter was submitted in November 2009 by Turley Associates on behalf of Titanic Quarter Ltd. The application sought permission to construct... "55,740 sq m gross floorspace of Class B1(a) office and Class A2 financial, professional and other services, together with other mixed ground floor and mezzanine uses (comprising retail (Class A1), community and cultural uses (Class D1), restaurants, bars and cafes - totalling 5,937 sq m gross), basement and deck car parking (583no. spaces), access road, landscaping and ancillary infrastructural works".

The application was recommended for approval by the Planning Service to Belfast City Council in March 2010 however at the Council's Planning Committee it was recommended that the decision be deferred for to the Planning Service Management Board as members felt the proposal was contrary to the departments policy of restricting office developments to the city centre area. Belfast City Council believed that:

  [1] there was a need for further consideration to be given to alternative sites in the city centre;
  [2] the proposal could be accommodated in the draft BMAP Belfast City Centre Main office area;
  [3] precedent could be set for further large scale office developments to take place in the Titanic Quarte and elsewhere; and
  [4] the proposal could undermine the longer term sustainability of the development plan where such ‘exceptions’ are introduced without the
  application of appropriate parking restraints measures to reflect the city centre nature and scale of development.

There was also an objection to the scheme by a group of 15 local developers, represented by DPP planning consultants. Ewart Properties, Prentice Estates, McAleer and Rushe, PBN Holdings Ltd and Jermon Developments among others, objected to the development as the consortium believed:

  [1] that there was sufficient un-let grade A floorspace in Belfast’s Main Office Area (MOA) to accommodate the proposal;
  [2] that approval of the application would undermine the already weakened market in the city’s MoA; and
  [3] that approval would be directly contrary to current planning policy and guidance and be premature to the draft Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan.

As a result the application was deferred to the Management Board for consideration were approval was granted in November 2010 with a series of planning restraints attached. 

Planning Consultants: Turley Associates