Danske Bank’s Northern Ireland HQ Listed

Danske Bank’s Northern Ireland Headquarters in Belfast has been granted listed status by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). The B listing recognises it as having local importance and being a good example of a period style.

The seven storey building designed and engineered by BDP was completed in 1976 and provided office accommodation for the bank’s major departments and its main city branch. It stands on the southwest corner of Donegall Square and was hailed as a good example of design geared towards energy conservation with reduced solar gains and heat loss.

The building won a RIBA Award in 1977 and the judges noted: “The design does not challenge the dominance of the City Hall, nor add another strident note to an already cacophonous chorus from the hotchpotch of styles and periods elsewhere in the square.”

BDP’s tally of listed buildings now stands at four, following the Grade II listing earlier this year of Bank House in Leeds, and Halifax Building Society and Preston Bus Station which were both listed Grade II in 2013.