IT hasn't even been completed yet, but already Victoria Square is shaping up to be Belfast's top shopping destination. Just last week, developers Multi Development UK secured four more top retailers for the �320m regeneration scheme which promises to breathe new life to the heart of Belfast's city centre. The four retailers include style-conscious clothing store All Saints, which has taken a 3,650sq ft unit on the lower ground floor of the shopping centre; top fashion brand Reiss; surf and extreme sports clothing brand Billabong, which will operate from a 4,000sq ft two-level store; and New Zealand brand Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK).

CALL FOR GRANT AID TO REDUCE FUEL COSTS

Homeowners could significantly reduce fuel bills and become 'greener' if the government provided grant aid to improve insulation. According to Johnny Flynn, Ennis town councillor and chairperson of the Renewable Energy Skills Accel Project (RES), almost one million Irish homes built prior to 1997 are highly energy inefficient due to poor insulation. Householders who fall into this category include many elderly and those on low incomes, living in buildings that are difficult to heat. This issue will be among topics discussed at the third RES conference at Limerick DIT on 6 September. The conference will bring together professionals and trades with a stake in the country's renewable energy sector, from architects to academics, and looking at what is happening elsewhere in the EU.

DEVELOPER GIVES LAND TO KILDARE COUNCIL

IT'S not even Christmas yet but already some developers are embracing the spirit of giving and generous gestures. Last week, Albany Homes secured planning for a total of 466 two-, three- and four-bed new homes in Leixlip near the site of The Wonderful Barn (an historial granary dovecote on the edge of Castletown Estate) and in return ceded The Wonderful Barn and 50 acres of surrounding amenity lands to Kildare County Council. Work is due to start on site in September, with launches early next spring through Coonan Real Estate Alliance.

ESTATE AGENTS TO BLAME FOR MARKET

THE summer lull is definitely upon us, but if you think you've got problems now selling your home, just wait until September, when even more property will come on the market, creating even more competition, warns buyer's agent Karen Mulvaney (www. buyersagent. ie) who believes estate agents are to blame for the current sluggish market, not the time of year.

"Estate agents are playing down the current property crisis. Naive vendors are being told they will get the price they were told to expect.

Therefore vendors are remaining unrealistic with regards to the prices. Thus providing us all with a depressing market.

"Prices have dropped; this is a fact not a prediction. It's time for estate agents to take the unfamiliar step of honesty with their clients and explain that they cannot get last year's price for the property they are selling and accept the offers they are getting. Then and only then can we all move on at this year's level."

Mulvaney's comments will come as tough fighting talk to agents who might argue that it is in fact the vendors themselves who are being unrealistic about the market and the price of their property, with some not willing to accept the advised lower value.

Sounds like the gloves are definitely off on this debate!