The Keep

BWM provided civil and structural engineering for The Keep, the transformation of a long-vacant former BHS department store in Belfast city centre into a high-specification retail and leisure destination. Delivered through deep structural retrofit rather than demolition, the project retains almost the entire existing steel frame and all of the original foundations. Wide, column-free spans across the shopfront were achieved using steel transfer beams, and where new loads fell outside the original grid, localised mini piles were introduced rather than a new substructure.

The development includes retail units for Apple, H&M and Deichmann, with the Apple store representing the first worldwide deployment of Apple's new global retail format.

The project was shortlisted for the global IStructE Structural Awards, where judges called it "a compelling example of deep retrofit and adaptive reuse applied to an ordinary commercial building," noting that "detailed investigation, high-quality documentation and confident engineering judgement enabled almost complete retention of the existing structure and foundations."