Blot on the Landscape

What this means is that they are going to build a massive apartment block, so that the quays which were actually being turned into a pleasant part of Belfast are now going to be ruined by this enormous blot on the landscape. The reason for it being Belfast's tallest building is because it is a very small parcel of land and they cannot build the same number of apartments if they were to build sideways.

The 26-storey residential tower will be called Obel, a play on the words obelisk and Belfast, and will be built in the city's revamped docklands next to the historic Custom House on the bank of the river Lagan.

At 80.5 metres it will be the tallest building in the province and the latest in a string of lofty blocks of flats being built across the UK.

Where once high-rise living was synonymous with urban decay, graffiti and poverty, a new wave of properties are aimed at a more aspirational class of dweller.

Yes, you are quite right, that means yuppies. Yuppies who buy property in redevelopment areas and then complain that the original residents are lowering the tone of the area. Sorry! if you are going to buy property in the docks area then you just have to accept what is part and parcel of docks life!

Leviathan, Donegall Quay by Kai-Olaf Hesse

This is what the area looked like before they stuck up that hoarding and can you imagine what it will look like with a massive apartment block just behind the tail.

Apparently this is what it is going to look like ......

· The Obel in fact has 29 floors above ground, 26 of these are residential and are wrongly named by the press as being the total number of storeys for the project.

· Every single apartment in this development sold within 48 hours.

Belfast homeowners with a head for heights have rushed to take up an offer to buy into what will be the city's tallest building.

All 182 apartments, penthouses and duplexes in the Donegall Quay Obel tower - with price tags between £100,000 and £475,000 - were snapped up within 48 hours. Selling agent Eric Cairns Partnership said interest in the 26-storey landmark building was "unprecedented" in Belfast with sales exceeding £30 million.

"Since the launch of Obel last week, the interest in securing residential apartments has been phenomenal," said Gayle Blackbourne of joint venture development company Donegall Quay.Construction work on the 265ft building begins in May, with a completion date of autumn 2007, at a cost of more than £50 million.

INVESTMENT BELFAST.