BCO forms Northern Ireland committee with Graham Interior Fit-Out at the table

The British Council for Offices (BCO) has formed a Northern Ireland committee chaired by Belfast Harbour development manager Tim Boyle, with Graham Interior Fit-Out among the firms represented, to support the region's office sector.

The BCO said the committee brings together developers, investors, occupiers, architects, agents and advisers. Fit-out is represented by Daniel Chesney, development director at Graham Interior Fit-Out.

Other members named by the BCO are Emma Fooks of Mace, Ruairí Dempsey of HDR, Julie McCafferty and Laura McCarthy of Kainos, Lucy McCutcheon of AtkinsRéalis, Jim Mulholland of Todd, Drew Nesbitt of Wilson Nesbitt, William White of Arup and David Wright of CBRE NI.

Boyle said: "This committee exists to bring the whole sector into the same room – the people who fund, design, build, manage and occupy our offices – so that we learn from each other, raise our ambitions".

The market

The BCO said there is less than 250,000 sq ft of available grade-A office space in central Belfast, citing figures from CBRE NI, with a significant share of that either in legals or under offer.

Higher construction and financing costs, alongside wider market uncertainty, have slowed office development in Northern Ireland in recent years, according to the BCO.

Boyle said the supply constraints and development economics facing the region were real, but were also a prompt to think differently about how workspace is delivered.

The programme

The committee's stated aims are to bring the Northern Ireland office sector together, connect it with BCO members across the UK and Europe, and establish the region as an exemplar of office design, development and operation.

Its planned activity includes talks and tours of new and refurbished workplaces led by the teams that design, build and occupy them, seminars bringing BCO research to local audiences, and networking events. The BCO said seminar topics would range from sustainability and retrofit to what occupiers need from their space.

The committee also intends to promote local schemes to the wider BCO membership and encourage them to enter the BCO Awards.

BCO president Andy McBain said: "This committee provides the platform to turn that potential into impact, connecting local expertise with the BCO's 4,000-strong membership network".

The BCO's membership page says it has more than 4,000 individual members from more than 700 organisations, spanning those who construct and design office space as well as those who develop, manage, occupy and operate it. According to the BCO's announcement of his election, McBain is head of branch and workplace design at NatWest Group and became president in September 2026, succeeding Helen Hare, director of projects at GPE.

The BCO's committees page says the organisation is organised into six regions, each with three committees focused on local matters, and describes its regional committees as its ambassadors across the regions.

The chair's pipeline

Belfast Harbour, Boyle's employer, is itself developing offices in the city. It said it has planning approval from Belfast City Council for City Quays 5, a £60m, nine-storey building with 160,000 sq ft of space, for which it is targeting BREEAM Outstanding certification.

Its City Quays 3 building is fully let after Bank of America took the remaining 58,000 sq ft, Belfast Harbour said. The bank is using 23,000 sq ft of serviced space in City Quays 1 while its fit-out is carried out. At planning stage, Belfast Harbour described the 250,000 sq ft City Quays 3 as one of the largest offices to be developed in Northern Ireland, at a cost of £46m.

Belfast Harbour scheme	Floor area (sq ft)
City Quays 3	250,000
City Quays 5	160,000

Belfast Harbour's website says Boyle has worked for the organisation since 2004 and is a chartered planning and development surveyor.

The committee is inviting office-sector professionals in Northern Ireland to join the BCO, attend its events, host a tour or speak at a seminar.