FAMILY-run construction and civil engineering giant Graham is planning a £5.6 million expansion of its Hillsborough headquarters.
It has submitted a pre-planning application proposal of application notice to Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council for a 3,848 sq.m expansion to its headquarters site just off the A1 dual carriageway.
The development consists of grade A office space grouped around a landscaped pedestrian boulevard which will provide a unique office ‘hub’ with good connectivity links to Belfast, Lisburn, Newry and Dublin.
In a statement to the Irish News, Graham said “The decision to progress a planning application demonstrates our continued confidence in the business.”
It added: “The proposed office hub will provide the basis for a working culture where people can utilise the outdoor space to enhance their working day.
“The expansion will be in the form of four new two storey office blocks accessed from a central pedestrian space."
Graham, which has a history spanning more than 200 years, has enjoyed a period of stellar growth in the last five years, which has prompted the move to enlarged premises.
The company, which has 2,100 staff across 23 UK offices (including more than 1,100 people at its Northern Ireland locations), grew sales by 36 per cent to £768m, helped by targeted bidding for projects and investment in staff.
Graham has a current order book of £1.2 billion, cash balances of £63m and no trading debt, and in the currently trading year directors are predicting turnover to soar by 20 per cent to £875m.
When it published its most recent set of accounts in July, group executive chairman Michael Graham said: "These figures indicate stability, particularly as we recorded profits across all of our divisions. This will provide us with a solid platform to continue to grow sustainably."
Among its current live projects is a multi-million pound contract to build a new port terminal and associated facilities on land at the former Tilbury Power Station on the north bank of the River Thames.
Other recent major scheme undertaken by the group include the £134m Baird Family Hospital and Anchor Centre development for NHS Grampian and a new £55m waterfront apartment scheme on Strand Street in Liverpool.
And yesterday, with its joint-venture partner Farrans, Graham delivered the first phase of the flagship A6 Randalstown to Castledawson dual carriageway.
The £185million scheme to upgrade almost 15 kilometres of the A6 North Western Transport Corridor is being delivered in two phases.
Traffic was allowed to use a seven-kilometre stretch of the Randalstown to Toome dual carriageway for the first time in August, but lane and speed restrictions remained in place while works to tie in the new dual carriageway to the existing road network were constructed.
Those final works have now been completed and the whole 7.5 kilometre stretch of new dual carriageway is now fully open between Toome and the M22 at Randalstown.
