Planning officials in Belfast have recommended that a bid to develop a new private hospital in a former retail warehouse in the south of the city can go ahead.
Part of the Boucher Road site, which was occupied by B&Q until 2016, is currently leased to The Range.
Belfast venture capitalist firm Norlin is behind the development of the new medical facility, which will be operated by one of Europe’s largest private healthcare companies, Affidea.
Founded in 1991, Affidea offers diagnostic imaging, outpatient, and cancer care services in 334 centres across Europe.
The company took a significant step into the Northern Ireland market in 2021 by acquiring Hillsborough Private Clinic and Orthoderm, which is also based in the Co Down town.
Affidea also runs an MRI scanning clinic on Belfast’s Malone Road, one of 16 it operates across the island of Ireland.
It expects to create around 160 jobs in the new medical facility, which the healthcare firm said will provide Belfast with “one of Europe’s leading orthopaedics centres of excellence, the most modern diagnostic imaging suite on the island and a minor injuries inpatient service”.
The plans include 74 recovery beds for overnight residential care.
The report prepared ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of Belfast City Council’s planning committee, states: “The proposed operator undertakes significant work with the NHS in relation to its waiting lists and will address more complex elective cases at this facility particularly in relation to patients who are currently on multi-year waiting lists including orthopaedics and endoscopy.”
Norlin, which owns the Boucher Road site, is run by Richard Irwin and Stephen Symington. Their investments include Belfast’s new Titanic Distillery.
It’s understood Norlin’s bid has been backed by the US venture capitalist John Fichthorn.
Best known as the founder of hedge fund Dialectic Capital Management, he also founded MedTex Ventures in 2020, which specialises in medical investment.
Mr Fichthorn’s profile in the US grew after he helped produce ‘Betting on Zero’, a documentary chronicling the $1 billion bet Bill Ackman made in 2012 against the dietary supplement manufacturer Herbalife.
He founded Norlin EV Holdings with Mr Irwin and Mr Symington in 2019.
Norlin EV submitted a full planning application for the new medical facility in April 2024.
The recommendation to approve the medical facility was made despite NI Water opposing the project on grounds of insufficient capacity at Belfast wastewater treatment works.
Planning officials said it would be unreasonable to refuse the project on those grounds, stating that while NI Water has a duty to connect committed development across the city to its waste-water infrastructure: “Such development, which includes significant levels of residential and commercial floor space across the city, will not all come forward at once and some may not come forward at all.”
The building on Boucher Road was used by B&Q between 1999 and 2016.
The Range opened its 65,000 sq ft store on the site in 2020.
