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Sean Mulryan (born September 1954) is an Irish property developer, and the founder and chairman and CEO of the Ballymore Group, a Dublin-based international property development company. He was named on the ''
Estates Gazette ''EG (formerly Estates Gazette)'' is an established provider of data, news and analytics for the UK commercial property market. It was first published in 1858 and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008. In March 2008, ''Estates Gazette'' wa ...
'' 2017 'Power List', which lists the 50 most powerful individuals in Britain's commercial real estate sector. Mulryan was the only Irish person to be named on the list, which included US billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the chairman of
CC Land CC, cc, or C-C may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * C.C. (''Code Geass''), a character in the ''Code Geass'' anime series, pronounced "C-two" * C.C. Babcock, a character in the American sitcom ''The Nanny'' * Com ...
, Cheung Chung-kiu. In October 2018, he was named in the '' Evening Standard'' list of the 1,000 most influential Londoners while a month later in November 2018, Mulryan was recognised for “an outstanding contribution to Ireland and the Irish community in Great Britain” by The Ireland Funds Great Britain chapter.


Early life

Sean Mulryan was born in September 1954, the son of John and Josephine Mulryan. He grew up in rural poverty in the village of Oran, near Castlerea, Co Roscommon, in the west of Ireland, in a farming family with seven children.''Homes & Property''
Sean Mulryan: the man who owns land in every corner of Londo
accessdate: 1 September 2014
Mulryan left school at the age of 17, and trained as a bricklayer. Aged 19, he bought his first plot of land. At 26 he set up his own company and shortly afterwards founded Ballymore, which is now considered one of Europe's biggest property developers.


Career


Ballymore Group

Ballymore Group was founded in 1982 by Mulryan, then aged 28, who is the chairman. Ballymore has become one of the biggest providers of residential space in London. In 2017, it was reported that the previous year's profits at the UK arm of Ballymore had increased almost three-fold to £154.9m (€217.6m). In December 2016, Mulryan announced that the Ballymore Group had exited Nama. In addition, he said Ballymore had paid back “significant borrowings” to RBS, KBC and other institutions. In 2019, published accounts for one of the group’s key UK-registered companies, Ballymore Properties Ltd, show it earned profits of £176.3 million in the 12 months ended 31 March 2018. Ballymore Properties Ltd had net assets of £54 million on 31 March 2018, compared to a £121 million deficit 12 months earlier. Ballymore Group works on large-scale projects in London and across Europe, with a particular focus on urban regeneration. In 2016, it was reported that Oran native Sean Mulryan launched the latest development in Dublin, which is a €700 million development in the docklands. The 'Dublin Landings' waterfront regeneration project includes office, residential and retail/leisure accommodation. In 2020, Ballymore was approved to build a large mixed-use scheme on 2.8 hectares at Dublin’s Connolly Station in Dublin’s IFSC. Several members of the Mulryan family have been involved in Ballymore. John Mulryan is a son of Sean Mulryan and is group managing director at Ballymore, meanwhile, Sean's brother Donal Mulryan used to work for Ballymore before starting his own development company, West Properties, which owns various developments in the UK, including Skyline Central, the tallest apartment complex in Manchester.irishtimes.com
Docklands project brings Ballymore back to centre stage --
/ref>bdcmagazine.com
Featuring Ballymore: Interview With Sean Mulryan (Chairman & Group Chief Executive) --
/ref> As of 2012, he is one of the richest men in Ireland. According to London's '' The Evening Standard'', Mulryan owns more land in London than the Duke of Westminster. On 16 February 2012, Wandsworth Council approved Ballymore Group's plans for the 15 acre development in
Nine Elms Nine Elms is an area of south-west London, England, within the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies on the River Thames, with Battersea to the west, South Lambeth to the south and Vauxhall to the east. The area was formerly mainly industrial bu ...
.
Embassy Gardens Embassy Gardens is a residential and business development built by Ballymore Group in the Nine Elms regeneration zone in London, England, surrounding the United States Embassy building opened in 2017. It features the tranparent Sky Pool for swim ...
is set to provide "up to 1,982 new homes alongside shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, business space, a 100 bed hotel, a health centre, children's playgrounds and sports pitches".Wandsworth Council
Embassy Gardens plans approved , Wandsworth Council
accessdate: 9 September 2014
In 2014, it was reported that Mulryan had engaged Lazard and
CBRE Group CBRE Group, Inc. is an American commercial real estate services and investment firm. The abbreviation CBRE stands for Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis. It is the world's largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2021 reven ...
to raise about €2.5bn to fund the Embassy Gardens development. At the time of its launch, former
Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
described the Embassy Gardens project as “possibly the most important regeneration story in London and in the UK over the next 20 years”. In 2018, the
Embassy of the United States, London The Embassy of the United States of America in London is the diplomatic mission of the United States in the United Kingdom. It is located in Nine Elms and is the largest American embassy in Western Europe and the focal point for events relating ...
, relocated from
Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable ...
to Embassy Gardens. The land on which the new embassy stands was sold to the
US government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
by the Ballymore Group after a deal was reached in 2008. In March 2021, the ''Financial Times'' ran an investigation into Ballymore developments. Leaseholders at multiple Ballymore developments faced large increases in the service charge bills, with one stating a 58% increase in annual costs between 2015 and 2020; residents were reported to be 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.


Other work

Outside of his work with Ballymore, Mulryan was set to join the board of the Ireland West Airport Knock in 2017. Knock confirmed the appointment in May 2017, along with two other new directors. The airport is considered key for regional development and it expects to handle around 750,000 passengers in 2017, making it its busiest year. In 2022, Mulryan invested €5 million in Irish electric bike maker Modmo.


Personal life

Mulryan and his wife Bernadine live at the
Ardenode Stud Ardenode may refer to - *Ardenode, Alberta Ardenode is a hamlet and ghost town in southern Alberta, Canada in Wheatland County, located east of Highway 9, northeast of Calgary. It was founded as a railroad siding in 1913. The community ta ...
, County Kildare, with five children. They are very active in horse racing and own "somewhere between 50 and 100" racehorses, trained in Ireland and France.Shopping Centre
Mulryan of many talents
accessdate: 1 September 2014
Among his top horses was Forget the Past, which was a multiple winner at the highest level over jumps and trained by Michael O’Brien, who handled a number of Mulryan-owned horses. He also owned flat horses, including Thewayyouare, which was once considered to be a strong contender for The Derby. In 2017, Mulryan's Ballymore Properties sponsored the headline race on the last day of the
Punchestown Punchestown Racecourse is located in the parish of Eadestown, between the R410 and R411 regional roads near Naas, County Kildare, in Ireland. It is known as the home of Irish Jumps Racing and plays host to the annual Punchestown Irish National ...
National Hunt Festival. Worth over €100,000, the Ballymore Handicap Hurdle is run over two and a half miles and is one of the most hotly contested races of the festival. His friends include the athlete and politician
Seb Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals ...
and
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...
, the singer in the Irish pop group U2.
Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...
, of the pop group Blondie sang at his 50th birthday party.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulryan, Sean 1954 births 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Living people Irish businesspeople People from County Roscommon Irish billionaires