Belfast: Open for Business

A decade after the Good Friday peace agreement, Northern Ireland's economy is blossoming

The north's "biggest export was its people," says Canning of Firstsource Andrew McConnell/WPN

by Kerry Capell

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• Slide Show: Rediscovering Belfast

Bombed-out shops have given way to glittering malls such as Victoria Square Andrew McConnell

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Belfast - Just a few years ago, the old shipyard at Queen's Island in Belfast was a wasteland, with only the red brick pump house—where the Titanic had its final fitting—providing testament to Northern Ireland's former shipbuilding prowess. Today, the district is buzzing with activity. Dubbed the Titanic Quarter, it will see some $10 billion in investment over the next 15 years as it is transformed by offices, apartments, and shops. Citigroup (C), GE Healthcare (GE), Microsoft (MSFT), and a growing number of homegrown high-tech outfits have moved into gleaming steel and glass buildings. The dockyards' old Paint Hall has become a movie studio; the $50 million Hollywood fantasy flick City of Ember, due out in October, was filmed there.

Belfast? That's right. The battered city that for 30 years defined sectarian violence and civil strife is thriving. It has been a decade since the Good Friday peace agreement ended the conflict between the predominantly Catholic republicans, who want a united Ireland, and the mainly Protestant unionists, who prefer to remain part of the United Kingdom. Now that accord is finally starting to pay off with economic growth. Bombed-out storefronts and armored police vehicles have been replaced by office blocks, swanky shops, and malls such as the $640 million Victoria Square, which is topped by a vast glass dome offering panoramic views of a city skyline dotted with construction cranes.

The real estate boom is a reflection of Northern Ireland's turnaround. Over the past decade the region has averaged growth of 3%, vs. 2.5% for Britain. During that time more than 100,000 jobs have been created, bringing unemployment to a 26-year low of 3.9%. The government plans to inject $36 billion into infrastructure and regeneration projects over the coming decade. And last year, the north saw net inward migration for the first time, boosted by both returning émigrés and an influx of Eastern Europeans. "We have come a long way economically, socially, and politically," says Nigel Dodds, the region's Finance Minister. "Northern Ireland is open for business."

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That increasingly means foreign business. While a handful of multinationals came to the north before the Good Friday Agreement, foreigners have plowed $2.6 billion into the province over the past six years. Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace has invested $2.4 billion in Belfast since 1989, including a $140 million expansion this year of its plant in the city, where it will make a sizable chunk of its new 100-seat regional jet. Japan's Fujitsu Services (FJTSY) has pumped $60 million into its Northern Irish operations in the past 18 months to create a new software development center, doubling its workforce there to more than 1,000. India's biggest PC maker, HCL, came to the north seven years ago and employs 2,000 people in call centers in Belfast and Armagh. And Canadian telecom equipment maker Nortel Networks (NT) has 500 workers at a supply-chain management center in Monkstown. The recent stability is "very conducive to business and investment," says Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski.