Northern Ireland's authorities are exploring the feasibility of building an emergency field hospital at the huge site near Lisburn, where the annual Balmorral Show takes place and where the Maze Prison was once located.
Additional facilities are likely to be required as the numbers affected by the coronavirus increase. In London an exhibition centre is being converted into a 4,000 bed temporary hospital and the Scottish authorities have identified a site in Glasgow where emergency facilities could be rapidly constructed.
If the Northern Ireland plan goes ahead, expertise in the planning and construction phase could be provided by British Army Royal Engineers section.