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Royal Mail looks set to relocate its Belfast city centre headquarters to new distribution hub next to the landmark Samson and Goliath Cranes in the Titanic Quarter.
Built in the early 1970s, the 75,000 sq ft building on Tomb Street has been the centre of Royal Mail’s Belfast operations for more than 50 years, serving as the main delivery hub for the entire city.
The original brutalist style concrete structure was given a face-lift in the 1990s, with its glass façade a familiar feature of the city centre skyline.
Royal Mail first confirmed plans to relocate its Belfast city centre base last week.
A spokesperson told the Belfast Telegraph that the relocation plan for the Tomb Street office followed a review of its property estate.
It can now be revealed that the relocation plans involves the development of a brownfield six-acre site on Hamilton Road, right under one of the signature yellow cranes of the Harland and Wolff shipyard.
Titanic Quarter Limited, which has been the main developer of the Titanic Quarter over the past quarter century, has lodged a proposal of application notice (PAN) with Belfast City Council, setting in train the major relocation project.
The PAN, which is required for all major planning applications, proposes the erection of a brand new postal distribution centre with associated parking and electric vehicle charging points for Royal Mail’s future fleet.
The site, which will be accessible from Hamilton Road, runs along Sydenham Road, up to the Agnew Group’s Audi retail forecourt east, and right up to the 315 ft Goliath crane, located on the city side of the shipyard.
To the west, the site lies close to the modern office cluster of the Titanic Quarter that houses Citigroup and the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).
The PAN process includes a public consultation phase, with an event planned for the Titanic Hotel on March 3 (3pm), where the consultants involved in the project will lay out the plans.
A full planning application is expected to follow. Subject to approval, it’s expected the development process will take a number of years to progress to the build phase.
The site is located next to the site on Hamilton Road proposed for a new student village in the Titanic Quarter.
Holywood-based Lacuna Developments and London-based Watkin Jones secured planning permission in 2024 for the 1,007 units next to Belfast Met.
The development partners were also behind the development of the new Loftlines build-to-rent apartment scheme next to the Titanic Belfast museum, which is set for completion this year, bringing 778 new residential units to the Titanic Quarter.
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