Ten Square opens doors on first phase of £18m expansion
Ten Square hotel in the centre of Belfast has just completed the first phase in a planned expansion to its premises on Donegall Square.
The hotel welcomed the first guests to the former Lancashire House office building next door to its existing building on Linenhall Street at the weekend, filling 18 bedrooms from a total of 55 in that block which will be complete by the end of January. The first phase of the expansion will also see the addition of the new Linenhall Business Centre with conferencing, function rooms and events space.
A second phase featuring a 66-bedroom expansion on the other side of the original hotel building in the former Scottish Amicable Building on Donegall Square, has already begun. It will also include a spa and gym and it will be complete in October next year, bringing the total bedroom capacity at the hotel to more than 140. A burrito bar will also open on the ground floor of this section of the hotel in January.
The expansion is part of a total capital investment of almost £18m by owners Loughview Leisure Group, that will also mean an additional 20 new jobs. When the group took over the iconic hotel last year, it invested in a wide-ranging refurbishment, including new kitchens, a re-modelling of its front-of-house areas and a modernisation programme in the bedrooms
“Last year’s refurbishment saw our events offering increase in capacity, but the newly created Linenhall Business Centre will further allow us to widen our reach for seminars, meetings, conferences and wedding bookings,” says Stephen Carson, who is overseeing the current revamp.
Christopher Kearney, finance director of Loughview Leisure Group Limited, adds: “The multimillion pound upgrade of this property will further enhance all aspects of our guests’ experience and will ensure that Ten Square will maintain its position as Belfast’s leading city centre hotel. Work continues, but we are still very much open for business during the busy Christmas season.”
Our picture shows Tourism NI’s chairman, Terence Brannigan checking in at the new reception area in Ten Square.
