Ballymore Group
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Ballymore Group is an Ireland-based international property development company. The majority of the company's employees and business activities are located in the UK.


History

Ballymore Group was founded in 1982 by Sean Mulryan, who is the chairman and the chief executive (CEO). Ballymore Group's UK managing director is John Mulryan, who is a son of the founder. In January 2015, Ballymore announced a deal with Malaysian property investment company, Eco World, in which Ballymore sold its Wardian London, Embassy Gardens and phase two of its London City Island development to Eco World for £428m. This created a holding company known as Eco World-Ballymore Holding Company Limited. Ballymore own 25 per cent of the company and Eco World own the remaining 75 per cent. However, Ballymore will continue to manage the three schemes within the new company. In 2016, Ballymore's UK profits were recorded at €217m; it was reported in the ''
Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
'' that these were "exceptional gains" and had resulted in almost a threefold profit increase. In the same year, the firm won Large Developer of the Year at the RESI Awards and also won Property Developer of the Year at the ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' Awards. In March 2021, the ''Financial Times'' investigated service changes at Ballymore developments. Leaseholders at multiple Ballymore developments faced large increases in their bills, with one citing a 58% increase in annual costs between 2015 and 2020; residents were reportedly left feeling trapped in increasingly unaffordable homes. Ballymore told the ''FT'' increases were due to inflation in services such as insurance and utilities, but residents said the charges also covered repairs to fix poor workmanship during the developments' construction.


London Developments


Embassy Gardens

Embassy Gardens in
Nine Elms Nine Elms is an area of south-west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth, with some parts (including the Nine Elms tube station, tube station) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It lies on the River Thame ...
is a 2,000-home complex, positioned alongside the US Embassy (which opened in 2018) and near
Battersea Power Station Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames in Nine Elms, Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) to the design of ...
. In 2018, the US Embassy relocated from Grosvenor Square to Embassy Gardens. The land on which the current embassy stands was sold to the
US government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...
by the Ballymore Group after a deal was reached in 2008. As well as the US embassy,
the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
relocated its embassy to the area, and publisher Penguin Random House moved in 2020 to One Embassy Gardens in 2020, an office building subsequently sold to Kennedy Wilson for £177.5m in June 2021. The development includes a "world first": a sky pool suspended 10-storeys high between two apartment blocks, allowing residents to swim between the buildings. The pool is designed to appear as though it floats in the air and uses 20 cm-thick glass so that swimmers have uninterrupted views of London, including the
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and the
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. In March 2021, Embassy Garden's residents were reported by the Financial Times as being "trapped" in their apartments, with one resident reporting that the service charge had increased by 58 per cent over 5 years to an annual charge of just over £6,500. This is an increase of between 10 - 15% per annum, well above the UK's inflation rate of 2.9% per annum during that period.


New Providence Wharf

Ballymore's New Providence Wharf is a 559-apartment scheme, which altered the skyline east of London's
Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...
. However, following the 2017
Grenfell Tower fire On 14 June 2017, a List of fires in high-rise buildings, high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of Public housing in the United Kingdom, flats in North Kensington, West London, England, at 00:54 British Summer Time, BST ...
, it emerged that New Providence Block A-E in Fairmont Avenue used the same aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. More than 500 households would, on average, have to pay over £4,000 each after freeholder Landor Residential, part of the Ballymore group, refused to cover the cost of recladding the block. In February 2019, Ballymore offered a 20% contribution towards recladding costs, but gave leaseholders a two-week ultimatum to foot the rest of the £2.4m bill, despite stated
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for housing, communities, and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 ...
policy that leaseholders should not to be made to pay to remediate dangerous cladding systems. Ballymore also offered loans, but threatened to cancel its 20% contribution and add a 5% interest to the loan if any resident threatened the company with legal action. On 7 May 2021, the ACM-clad building suffered a major fire. The blaze affected parts of the 8th, 9th and 10th floors, and resulted in two people being taken to hospital, plus the evacuation of 42 people. Ballymore said the ACM played no part in the blaze. A
London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the Fire department, fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 90), under the leadership of superintendent ...
report about the fire revealed serious safety failings, including a broken ventilation system which meant the building acted like a "broken chimney" while escape routes filled with smoke.


Wardian London

Wardian London, on the Isle of Dogs, consists of two towers, of 55 and 50 storeys, which contain 764 apartments, all with balconies and private gardens. The development features more than 100 different species of exotic plants and its own indoor and outdoor landscaping service.


Royal Wharf

Ballymore is involved with the regeneration of the Royal Docks, which is seeing £6 billion of private sector investment. West of Thames Barrier Park, it is building Royal Wharf between the river and Silvertown Way, which will have a 550-yard river frontage and include over 3000 homes, two parks and a new school. In April 2017,
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supported the
Silvertown Silvertown is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, in east London, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, Thames and was historically part of the parishes of West Ham and East Ham, Becontree Hundred, hund ...
development with a loan of £18m. In January 2019, construction work started on a new riverboat terminal, Royal Wharf Pier. This will allow
Thames Clippers Uber Boat by Thames Clippers is a set of river bus services on the River Thames in London, England. The company operates both commuter services between eastern and Central London and tourist services under licence from London River Services. ...
to provide a service to the more than 10,000 residents who will live in the 3,385 riverside properties being built by Ballymore in the Royal Docks regeneration area. Royal Wharf has been plagued by problems, with many doors at the development constantly broken, leading to protests from residents. Ballymore is also developing the adjacent riverfront site to the west, Riverscape, to provide 769 homes.


London City Island and Goodluck Hope

Ballymore is also responsible for a multi-million pound
Canning Town Canning Town is a town in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, north of the Royal Victoria Dock. Its urbanisation was largely due to the creation of the dock. The area was part of the ancient parish and County Borough of West Ham, ...
development, City Island, a 12-acre island site that includes 1,000 homes as well as shops and restaurants. Inspired by Manhattan, the development won the top prize at the 2017 London ''Evening Standard'' New Homes Awards, and is expected to become a cultural hub, home to the London Film School and the English National Ballet. In 2019, English National Ballet was set to move from its 40-year-old home at Markova House in
South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...
into a new 8,600 sq. m facility, four times the size of its previous home. South of London City Island, Goodluck Hope is a riverside development located across from the O2 Arena at North Greenwich.


Other London developments

In May 2017 it was announced that the group was working in partnership with the Hong Kong Chinese Kwok family, who are controlling shareholders in Sun Hung Kai Properties. In October 2018, it was reported that this joint venture would deliver a £1bn skyscraper scheme in the Isle of Dogs in London's docklands. The Millharbour Quarter will comprise 1,513 homes at Millwall Dock. Other Isle of Dogs projects include Baltimore Tower and Pan Peninsula. West of Millharbour, Ballymore's plans for a 51-storey residential tower at Cuba Street were withdrawn for fire safety reasons in January 2022 after London Fire Brigade raised concerns about its reliance on a single staircase for emergency exit. Further east in the Royal Docks area of Silvertown, Ballymore applied for planning permission in October 2021 to redevelop an industrial area off Thames Road, east of Thames Barrier Park and southwest of London City Airport; 1,610 new homes, ranging from three-storey townhouses to 15-18 storey apartment blocks are planned; if approved, construction will start in 2023, with completion in 2027.


Other UK developments

* Snowhill, Birmingham * Piccadilly Tower, Manchester


Ireland developments

In 2016, Ballymore launched a €700 million development in Dublin's docklands. The Dublin Landings waterfront regeneration project includes 100,000 sq. m (1,076,391 sq. ft) of office, residential and retail/leisure accommodation, of which 22,019 sq. m (237,000 sq. ft) is residential accommodation: 268 residential units with on-site resident amenities including a concierge service, landscaped gardens, a private gym, business lounges and 210 basement parking spaces. In 2019, Ballymore and its commercial partner Oxley Holdings agreed to sell all 268 luxury apartments to Greystar for €175.5m. There are five Grade A office buildings on the Dublin Landings complex. No 1. The Landings has been let to the NTMA and sold to German institutional investor Triuva. No 2. The Landings has been let to
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and sold to the REIT company JR AMC while the
Central Bank of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland () is the national central bank for Ireland within the Eurosystem. It was the Irish central bank from 1943 to 1998, issuing the Irish pound. It is also the country's main financial regulatory authority, and since 2 ...
acquired two of the remaining three office buildings - No 4, The Landings, and No 5, The Landings. Ballymore is also involved in delivering a large mixed-use scheme on 2.8 hectares at Dublin's
Connolly station Connolly station () or Dublin Connolly is the busiest List of railway stations in Ireland, railway station in Dublin and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and is a focal point in the rail transport in Ireland, Irish route network. On the Northsid ...
in Dublin's IFSC and a €31.3 million housing development in
Naas Naas ( ; or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In 2022, it had a population of 26,180, making it the largest town in County Kildare (ahead of Newbridge, County Kildare, Newbridge) and the List of urban ar ...
.


References

{{Reflist Companies based in Dublin (city) Irish companies established in 1982 Property companies of the United Kingdom Property companies of Ireland