A Belfast firm behind the fit-out of some of the island’s best known hotels and hospitality venues is set to close in the coming weeks with the loss of around 35 jobs.
Pure Fitout was acquired out of administration in January 2025 by Dublin-based investor Damien Gaffney, just days after administrators from Deloitte were appointed to Ronan Higham’s Mallusk-based operation.
Mr Gaffney, who also purchased sister Belfast company HALT Natural Fire Retardant (NFR), paid £1.1 million for both firms, stating the move had saved more than 100 jobs.
But just 15 months on, the business figure, who has already down-sized the operation, has informed staff that the Pure Fitout workshop at Springbank Industrial Estate in west Belfast will close in June, when its current contracts are complete. HALT NTR will continue as normal.
“The market demand for fitout has fallen off a cliff and we can’t seem to win any contracts,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.
Pure Fitout’s work on display at The Clarence Hotel in Dublin.
“Therefore, with regret, we have to inform you that it is the company’s intention to close its operations.”
The company boss said the shut down will not be immediate and clients have been assured all active projects will be completed.
Founded in 2015 by west Belfast native Ronan Higham, Pure Fitout became one of the fastest-growing bespoke joinery companies on the island.
The firm’s biggest breakthrough came when it linked up with the Dublin-based Press Up Group.
Co-founded by Paddy McKillen Junior, the son of one of west Belfast’s most successful business exports Paddy McKillen, Press-Up assembled a hospitality portfolio that, at its height, included around 50 hotels, bars and restaurants, with a workforce of around 2,000.
Pure Fitout’s portfolio of work includes The Leinster Hotel in Dublin.
Press-Up sold its chain of hotels in 2023, but the group’s mounting debts resulted in London-based asset management firm Cheyne Capital taking over in 2024 in a debt-for-equity swap, triggering a restructuring of the entire business.
At the time of its collapse last year, Pure Fitout acknowledged “substantial unpaid invoices from key clients”.
Press-Up was last year rebranded as the Eclective Hospitality Group, with Mr McKillen jnr retaining a 5% share.
A report from the administrators at Deloitte confirmed that Damien Gaffney had been in negotiations about acquiring Pure Fitout before its collapse.
The Dublin-based investor said he had continued to pump money into the business and had tried to make savings, but said it was continuing to lose money.
It’s understood that alongside closing the firm’s Mallusk workshop, Mr Gaffney also cut staff numbers in recent weeks.
He informed Pure Fitout’s staff at its Belfast workshop and Dublin office on Wednesday.
“I tried to skinny it back to keep the business alive, and I’ve written million-euro cheques into it multiples of times. I just can’t continue to do it,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.
“I have to call it in the interests of everybody.”
Mr Gaffney has confirmed that the HALT NFR business is unaffected by the decision, stating that it continues to trade profitably from a separate site at Spring bank.