Three well-known Belfast buildings to become care homes? Plans for former bank headquarters and old Stormont department to get green light, alongside hotel
Plans to turn three notable buildings in Belfast into nursing homes, including a five-storey office block and the former home of a Stormont department in a 19th century estate, are set to win approval tonight.
The separate bids are for the former headquarters of Halifax bank in the city’s Gasworks area, the Netherleigh House complex in east Belfast that used to house the Department for the Economy, and the Stormont Hotel.
The Halifax building went on the market at £7.5m in 2024, while listing of Netherleigh the same year priced it at £5.75m. The Stormont Hotel is still running as a business, and its owners describe a planning application to turn it into a nursing home as “a speculative exercise being undertaken by a third party” – though they also said they “acknowledge the external interest in the site’s potential”.
All three are set to be okayed by planners at Belfast City Hall.
Initially used to house a call-centre, the Halifax building stayed in use by the bank’s parent company, the Lloyds Group, until a couple of years ago when the firm moved its personnel to a new development elsewhere in the city. Current plans would see it become a nursing home comprising 156 bedrooms plus cafe areas, day rooms and lounges, hairdressers, cinema rooms, treatment rooms and a scanning unit.
Located on Massey Avenue, Netherleigh House was constructed in the 1880s and is a grade B listed building. In the 1970s, office blocks that link to the original building were added on. The care home plans would see existing properties converted, adding 36 assisted living apartments over two four storey blocks as well as car parking, what are described as “landscaped amenity areas” and woodland trails.
The Stormont Hotel is located opposite the titular estate, home of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Both the main body of the hotel and a conference centre that’s in regular use for big events at the assembly would become a combined 97-bed care home if the plans were put into action – though the final decision on that lies with owners the Hastings Group, not the retirement home firm that lodged the planning application.
The hotel idea hasn’t gone down well with locals, many of whom lodged objections fearing the move would significantly add to the area’s already severe traffic congestion while destroying the character of a district that’s popular with young parents.
The Netherleigh plans received one letter of support and one of opposition, plus three from people asking questions about the development; no members of the public contacted planners over the Halifax building.
Describing the Gasworks site as “within the city centre and un-zoned white land”, planners say of the Halifax scheme: “The proposed refurbishment of the building is considered to be of a good design, appropriate to its location and context, that will regenerate the vacant building.”
In the case of Netherleigh, state planners in official reports: “The proposal would regenerate a vacant site and heritage asset, and [the Historic Environment Division] have no objection.”
Council officials raised concerns about the potential loss of the Stormont Hotel at a time when Belfast is trying to increase its tourism offering, but planners said on balance it wouldn’t do “significant harm” – and also dismissed the objections from nearby residents.