Consultancy behind landmark projects backs our awards gala

FOR the second year running, leading construction consultancy WH Stephens is sponsoring the Best Commercial Fit Out category in this year’s Belfast Telegraph Property Awards.

WH Stephens specialises in project management, cost management, building surveying and asbestos management and has been at the forefront in Northern Ireland as a construction consultant for many years.

Billy Wallace, managing partner and chairman of WH Stephens, offered best wishes to all those nominated for this year’s awards. He said the company was looking forward to meeting up again with clients, friends and colleagues from across the industry at the awards ceremony.

“We’re continuing to be very busy in Northern Ireland, as well as demonstrating growth in GB and Irish markets, having secured a number of high profile projects despite the abnormality of a continuing lack of local government,” he added.

Despite this uncertainty, WH Stephens is proud to have successfully delivered a number of key local projects including Downpatrick Leisure Centre, Altnagelvin Hospital North Block, City Quays 2, AC by Marriott Hotel and the new North Shore Film Studios as well as ongoing developments in the retail sector at the Boulevard, Banbridge; The Junction, Antrim; Tower Shopping Centre, Ballymena and

Busy: Billy Wallace Rushmere Shopping Centre and Retail Park.

Mr Wallace added: “Despite UK construction shrinkage as Brexit uncertainty spreads, together with failures in local government, we’re still optimistic that the Northern Ireland construction sector can get back onto a more firm footing, creating a construction ‘soft patch’ rather than a blip.”

WH Stephens is a professional consultancy practice that was formed in Belfast as a partnership in 1865.

For over 150 years the practice has been a stalwart of consistency and dependability in the development, re-development and conservation of the infrastructure and built environment throughout Ireland.

In more recent decades, the practice has applied its knowledge, management expertise and professional skills, in a collaborative manner, on projects throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.

This includes continuing growth of operations in England with projects such as the major town centre mixed use redevelopment in Woking, Surrey (£500m), Isle of Wight Retail Park (£30m), and in Ireland with ongoing major appointments such as the Book of Kells Trinity Visitor Experience (€70m) and the Royal Irish Academy of Music (€25m) in Dublin.