Belfast Bank Building - Hope Not Lost Of Salvation After Fire

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31 August 2018

The fire at Belfast's Bank Buildings will ultimately see much of the historic location of Primark's landmark store demolished as its structural integrity has been breached beyond repair.

However, there is hope that a facade retention system could be utilised to save the front of the building.

Mascott Construction has called a team of engineers together and believe a temporary system of structural scaffolding can be deployed to shore up the frontage - with a view to erecting a longer-term system that could see the Castle Street location salvaged and refurbished to the front elevation with a modern new build behind.

Belfast City Council had convened an emergency meeting of the business recovery group where the matter was discussed along with offering support to businesses in the vicinity of the fire which found themselves within a hard exclusion zone.

The exclusion zone has been scaled back to allow businesses to reopen (some with obvious limitations on public access) but a 45 metre cordon was still in place on Friday morning.

The blaze (which started at about 11:00am on Tuesday Aug 28) had been so fierce, that on late afternoon Wednesday, firefighters were still tackling pockets of fire - and remained at the site on standby until Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday, Rajesh Rana, the president of Belfast Chamber of Commerce said those at the meeting were hopeful of both an immediate positive outcome for business local to Castle Street and for a positive outcome for one of Belfast's most historic buildings.

Contingency planning

Primark, which has its roots in Northern Ireland's capital city, has only just started to assess its contingency plans which so far have extended to guaranteeing wages for shop staff until the end of the week.

Paul Marchant CEO said: "We are deeply shocked and saddened by the fire. The safety and wellbeing of our customers, colleagues and construction team is of course the most important consideration and we are truly relieved that all were evacuated safely.

"We are working closely with our team in Belfast to ensure they are fully supported during this challenging period."

What happened

Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue were called to Primark's five storey Bank Buildings at about 11:00am on Tuesday August 28. The building had operated as a department store for over 100 years with at times, the upper floors either empty or functioning as stores. 'Building' work was going on in the upper part of location. The fire (which will be investigated) attacked the upper floors and the roof first before engulfing the whole building.

By Wednesday at 11:00am, over 30 Firefighters, 5 fire appliances, a command support unit and an aerial appliance were still in attendance. Structural collapse was occurring within the building and pockets of fire emerging.

By 5:00pm, the operation was looking to scale back to 3 fire appliances.

Salvage

Paul Marchant concluded: "We would like to reassure our customers, colleagues and the wider community that we are committed to working with the authorities and our building contractors to establish the cause of the fire - and to investigate all avenues to salvage this iconic building, much loved by the people of Belfast."

Picture: The currently devastated Primark building in Belfast.

Article written by Robin Snow | Published 31 August 2018

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