A new £10m City Quays 1 Project for Belfast Harbour has been launched by Northern Ireland's First and deputy First Minister.

The £10million, 83,000 sq ft building represents phase 1 of Belfast Harbour’s 24-acre, £250million City Quays development and will provide 400 construction jobs.

The First Minister Peter Robinson said: "Growing the economy and creating jobs is a key priority for the Northern Ireland Executive. Our Programme for Government has a clear focus on creating high quality positions and today’s announcement will ensure the best possible office accommodation in state of the art facilities.

"I very much welcome that this major investment in the £10million City Quays 1 project will provide 83,000 sq ft of new 'Category A' office accommodation and will provide 400 much needed construction jobs.

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"Northern Ireland’s local economy continues to grow as a prime investment location and I am confident that this investment by Belfast Harbour will attract further high value inward investment projects and create additional new jobs."

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: "I welcome this £10million City Quays 1 project which provides a significant injection to the local economy including 400 jobs in the construction sector.

"Belfast Harbour is an important part of our history but its development and regeneration symbolises progress and how important it is to our future. Belfast Harbour is our main trade gateway, handling around 70 percent of seaborne goods here valued at £20billion.

"This office space will be built to the highest sustainability standards, in an ideal place for businesses and in close proximity to existing global companies including Intel, Merchant Warehouse, Grant Thornton and Capita. This first class office space helps when we embark on international trade missions and can point to the quality of what the north of Ireland has to offer."

(MH/IT)