A council project aimed at redeveloping vacant buildings in Lisburn has been delayed due to architect recruitment problems.
The local authority is due to allocate £2m to support business initiatives for empty commercial premises with a report anticipated in this tax year.
However, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council's (LCCC) regeneration and growth committee has now been told "trouble recruiting architects" has resulted in delays to the pilot scheme.
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Raising concerns, Downshire East DUP rep, Uel Mackin said: "We are all aware of the amount of vacant properties in the city centre. The amount seems to be moving up gradually. What are we doing to turn this around?"
Expressions of interest were sought since June 2024, with a view to explore retail, office or living space potential in empty city centre buildings.
Properties within the areas of Antrim Street, Bow Street, Railway Street, Bridge Street, Castle Street, Market Street and Market Square were all made eligible for support from the council's scheme for vacant properties. The application process ended last August.
A council officer responded: "The architects have not yet been appointed, we have had trouble recruiting and have gone out to the market three times. Hopefully the third time will be successful."
A regeneration director added: "There will be a report brought back to committee in the next few months and we will review our findings. We have looked for expressions of interest. There have been a number of significant applications for a number of properties and we have bottomed that out.
"We are now looking at other potential for investments... we are not sitting on our laurels."
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