The former headquarters of beleaguered Northern Ireland Water (NIW) has cost the taxpayer well over £30,000 in the last five months - just to maintain an empty building.

The news comes just a week after it emerged that NIW had paid out more than £3m in legal fees since 2007 with its former HQ now in focus.

The prestigious office block on the edge of Belfast city centre has been left vacant for the last five months and has been costing a whopping £6,200 per month just to heat and maintain - while empty.

A Department of Finance and Personnel spokeswoman has confirmed the monthly costs for the maintenance and upkeep of the now empty office block, off York Street, that already add up to over £36,000.

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Asked about its future, she said in a comment cleared personally by Stormont Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson: "When the building was identified as potentially surplus over a year ago another government department expressed an interest in the building as part of a wider project that was then under consideration.

"Detailed plans for an alternative use of the building have been completed."

However, the statement concluded: "No decision will be made on the 'end state' of the building until Departmental budgets have been confirmed."

Meanwhile, as the Stormont Executive - and its Finance Minister - continue to prevaricate over its draft budget, the building will rack up further major costs at a time of significant austerity - at over £6K monthly.

The news doesn't directly affect NI Water, but that Government-owned agency has already been facing further criticism after being forced to defend its legal fees - insisting that they reflect the varied and complex nature of the operations it undertakes.

The figures were revealed in answer to an Assembly question from the SDLP MLA, John Dallat.

The legal bill at Northern Ireland Water is close to £1m in this current financial year and were close to half a million pounds in 2007/8, more than twice that the following year, and around £800,000 last year. When this year's figures are included, the total is around £3.3m.

(BMcc/GK)