HC Deb 13 July 1977 vol 935 cc196-7W
Mr. Wm. Ross

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his current estimate of the total capital cost of the Richmond Street development scheme in Londonderry; how much of the area will be devoted to shops, to offices and to dwellings; how many of each such category there will be; what will be the rental per square foot for shops and for offices and for each dwelling; what is the estimated rateable value for each square foot of shop and of office accommodation based on present rateable values in Londonderry; how many potential tenants have expressed interest in this accommodation at these rentals and rateable values; how much shop and how much office accommodation this represents: which of the potential tenants are performing government and local government functions; and how much of the total office space they represent.

Mr. Carter

The current estimate of the total capital cost of the Richmond Street development scheme is £4½ million. Approximately 100,000 square feet will be devoted to shops, 40,000 sq. ft. to offices and none to dwellings. It is intended that there will be 44 shops, including four large stores, and the number of offices will relate to the requirements of the tenants. The rental per square foot for shops and offices has not yet been ascertained but will be the subject of negotiation between the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and the prospective tenants. Similarly, the rateable value per square foot of office and shop accommodation has not yet been fixed but will be determined by the Valuation Division of the Northern Ireland Department of Finance. A pre-letting exercise to assess the letting potential of the shops is proposed, and the value of this assessment might be prejudiced by stating the number of potential tenants who had expressed an interest at this stage or the amount of accommodation which this represents. There are, however, potential tenants for all of the office accommodation all of whom are performing Government functions or functions in relation to the public service