The developer behind a major student accommodation development in central Belfast has successfully overturned a decision to refuse planning permission for the 795 units.
Belfast City Council’s planning committee rejected by the bid by Mandeville Developments for the large Little Donegall Street scheme in March 2023.
It was determined the “excessive scale, height and massing” would prejudice the delivery of mixed tenure housing on an adjacent car park site, which has been zoned for social housing.
The student accommodation block is also opposed by Carrick Hill Residents’ Association, which has consistently lobbied for more social housing in the city’s inner north-west.
There are currently 2,200 applicants for social housing in north Belfast, with around 1,800 classed as being in ‘housing stress’.
While he accepted the level of housing need in the area, Commissioner Kevin Gillespie said he could only consider the appeal solely in the context of the current use of the adjacent site, as a surface level car park and not any future plans for social housing on the land.
“I have no persuasive evidence that, were a proposal for social housing to come forward, it could not be designed to sit satisfactorily alongside the appeal proposal within its urban context,” he added.
The decision comes as a new report from Deloitte published today described projects to grow Belfast’s residential offering as “elusive”.
The annual ‘Belfast Crane Survey’, which monitors major construction projects in the city, showed - there were no new residential starts in the city centre in 2024.
Just two residential schemes were completed last year – 48 social homes in College Square North and 38 private homes on the Ormeau Road.
In contrast, 1,224 student bed-spaces were under construction in 2024.
Hundreds more student units are in the pipeline, including 1,007 in the new Titanic Quarter Student Village, approved in September 2024.
Dublin investor Elkstone is also proposing 870 units next to Sandy Row and 895 units in a high rise scheme on Corporation Street.
The PAC report on the Mandeville case cited a claim by Queen’s University that there is an estimated shortage of 6,000 student beds, while Ulster University reportedly needs 1,700 student beds to meet demand.
Despite the lack of new residential starts last year, the Loft Lines project next to Titanic Belfast will introduce 778 new apartments in mid-2026.
Planning approval is also in place for 700 units across four schemes green-lit by Belfast City Council last year.
They include two high-rise build-to-rent towers next to the M3, 69 social homes in Sailortown and 77 apartments on May Street, close to the Royal Courts of Justice.
Elsewhere, Deloitte’s latest Belfast Crane Survey showed 17 major schemes were under construction or completed in 2024.
Just five new projects were started last year, the lowest number since Deloitte first produced the report in 2016.
Last year was also the first time in nine years that no new office completions were included in the crane survey.
Deloitte said if construction starts on Kainos’ new Belfast headquarters this year, as expected, it will be the first new build office start in Belfast since 2020.