Plans for £84m redevelopment of college campuses in Northern Ireland

The Northern Regional College has submitted plans for the £84m redevelopment of its sites in Coleraine and Ballymena.Applications for its Union Street and Farm Lodge campuses were submitted to Causeway Coast and Glens Council and Mid and East Antrim Council on Thursday.The projects, which are being funded by the Department for the Economy, are scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2022.A pre-application community consultation process was carried out in the Ballymena and Coleraine areas over October and November last year, garnering largely positive responses.Mel Higgins, Northern Regional College chief operating officer, said the public consultation process was to give residents and businesses an opportunity to see the proposals and provide feedback.The contract to design the new sites was awarded to Belfast-based McAdam Design in February last year following a tendering process managed by the Department of Finance.The NRC’s plan in Ballymena involves erecting a new complex on the site of the existing Farm Lodge Campus. The college will remain operational throughout, however once the new campus is complete the older buildings are due to be demolished to make way for a new car park.The proposal also will see the new campus incorporate a vacant piece of land that was formerly part of St Patrick’s Barracks.The former MoD site was closed in 2007 and gifted to the Executive in 2011.The Department for Communities took ownership in 2015.Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has already submitted an application to redevelop the former Royal Irish Regiment base into a £26m science park funded through the Belfast and city region deal.The council said the combination of the new Industrial Inspiration and Innovation Campus (i4C) alongside the new NRC campus, “would breathe much-needed new life” into Ballymena following the devastating loss of major employers such as Michelin and JTI Gallaher.