Ulster University buys Irish News building

The Irish News has been based on Donegall Street in Belfast since 1905

Ulster University has bought the building which housed The Irish News in Donegall Street, Belfast.

The Irish News, which was based in the building since 1905, announced the move from its historic offices in 2022.

Staff will be moving to the Fountain Centre in Belfast where Q Radio, which is part of the same media group, is based.

The Irish News offices had been on the market for £3.5m since January.

Dominic Fitzpatrick, Irish News managing director, said the sale created a fantastic legacy for the newspaper's home.

"We will be sorry to leave Donegall Street, which has served us so well down the generations, but we are looking forward to all the opportunities associated with our new home," he added.

• The Irish News to move from its Belfast offices

Specific plans for the new space have not yet been disclosed.

Ulster University said the additional site would complement the new Belfast campus that opened to staff and students in September 2022, "fostering creative talent, scientific expertise, engineering innovation and entrepreneurial drive in the city centre".

In Londonderry, Ulster University has acquired the Mount Royal building on the Northland Road.

It had been previously owned by the university in the 1990s.

It will offer 25 apartments designed and maintained to be a home-from-home for students studying at the city campus.

The Mount Royal accommodation will be available for the start of the new academic year in September.

At the university's Coleraine campus, the students' union space and facilities are being redeveloped.