Image copyright Oakland Group Image caption An artist's impression of the new office block at Wellington Place in Belfast

A property fund agreed under the last Northern Ireland Executive has made its first loan.

A total of £20m is being advanced towards a new office block being built at Wellington Place in Belfast city centre.

The fund, which was launched last November, contains £100m for commercial property and regeneration projects.

The executive agreed the fund as part of the 2016-17 budget.

It makes loans to "viable projects that cannot source funding from traditional sources", like banks.

The office project, known as Merchant Square, is being undertaken by Oakland Limited and will cost £70m.

It will house up to 3,000 staff over nine floors.

Retail space will occupy the ground floor.

The project involves the redevelopment of two existing buildings, Oyster & Royston House.

The Department of Finance appointed commercial agents CBRE to manage the fund, overseen by "a scrutiny board."