Six Northern Ireland sites to battle it out to build Heathrow runway with £5bn investment up for grabs

Six sites in Northern Ireland have been longlisted as potential regional logistic hubs for the off-site construction of Heathrow Airport’s third runway.The winning hub will benefit from the overall creation of 5,000 jobs and £5bn worth of economic benefits from the expansion, and will be one of four regional locations chosen in the UK.And delegates from the London airport have already begun tours of the individual sites here, including three Mid and East Antrim locations – the former home of Michelin in Ballymena, Belfast City Council’s Giant’s Park, and a Lisburn and Castlereagh business park.The only private sector site is Shackleton Barracks in Limavady, owned by MJM Marine.The chosen hub will pre-assemble components for the runway before they are transported to the airport, which created the competition to ensure the investment would be spread outside of London.