Dundonald House is likely to be demolished to make way for the development
Dundonald House at Stormont. Pic: Aodhán Roberts
The demolition of a prominent NI government building has taken a further step closer following the approval of plans for a £25m sports hub on the Stormont Estate.
Belfast City Council’s Planning Committee granted approval for the redevelopment of the NICSSA (NI Civil Service Sports Association) pavilion complex at the site on Tuesday evening.
The project will include a new two-storey pavilion with state-of-the-art indoor sports halls, reconfiguration of sports pitches, changing rooms and meeting spaces.
Dundonald House, which was built in the 1960s, had been home to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), but closed in June 2023 after a piece of coping stone fell from the roof.
The building, already earmarked to be knocked down, had an exclusion zone erected around it amid safety concerns following the incident.
The approved planning application said: “Site works will include the demolition and site clearance of the Dundonald House site to facilitate the extension and development of new international standard outdoor multi-sports playing, training and ancillary facilities.
“Day to day operation of the site will be improved by way of improvements to internal road network via new access/egress arrangements from the existing Stoney Road junction, additional car and cycle parking and new waste/recycling areas.”
The masonry that fell from the building in June revealed a number of issues with concrete coping on the roof, posing a threat to staff.
A reinforced tunnel had been proposed as a solution to protect civil servants before the decision was taken to shut the building completely.
Stormont’s Department of Finance said last year that long-term future of Dundonald House would be considered “following the determination of the NICSSA planning application”.