History and Initial Use

Dorchester House is a 10-floor, 52,000 sq ft vacant office building located in Belfast City Centre on Great Victoria Street. Originally built for the Inland Revenue in the early 1990s by Andras House, it was later owned by HMRC.

Acquisition and Initial Plans

In 2020, Andras House reacquired Dorchester House for an undisclosed sum. The initial plan was to convert the existing office space into grade A offices, adding two additional floors and nearly 10,000 sq ft of extra floor space.

Conversion to Aparthotel

In February 2023, Andras House submitted a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) (LA04/2023/2620/PAN) for converting Dorchester House from offices into an aparthotel with a ground floor cafe. This plan included adding additional floors to the building.

By August 2023, Andras House had submitted a full planning application (LA04/2023/3821/F) for the conversion, proposing the development of an aparthotel under the Adagio brand, part of the Accor Hotels group. The aparthotel will feature 136 serviced apartments, including studios, one-bedroom apartments, and a co-living concept suitable for corporate groups, where a cluster of four bedrooms shares a living area. The project was initially planned to start in early 2024 but has yet to commence.

Approval and Future Development

In June 2024, the proposal to convert Dorchester House into a 136-unit serviced apartment aparthotel was recommended for approval by the Belfast City Council Planning Committee