Business

Hagan Homes breaks ground on £9.5m Ballyclare housing development

Trevor Kennedy, director of construction, Hagan Homes; James McLaughlin of JCL Contracts and Jim Burke, director of sales and acquisitions, Hagan Homes
Trevor Kennedy, director of construction, Hagan Homes; James McLaughlin of JCL Contracts and Jim Burke, director of sales and acquisitions, Hagan Homes Trevor Kennedy, director of construction, Hagan Homes; James McLaughlin of JCL Contracts and Jim Burke, director of sales and acquisitions, Hagan Homes

ONE of the north’s largest homebuilders, Hagan Homes, is set to begin the construction of 78 new houses in Ballyclare as part of a £9.5 million development.

The construction is taking place on a 5.5 acre plot on the Fairview Farm Road in the town and will created around 50 jobs over the course of the four-year project.

Phase one of the development is scheduled for completion in late 2017, with prices starting from £89,950. The development will include 2 bed apartments, 3 bed townhouses and 3 bed semi-detached homes.

The main contractor for the Fairview Farm Road project is Claudy-based JCL Construction.

Jamesy Hagan, managing director of Hagan Homes, said he was thrilled to start the project.

"Hagan Homes’ aim is to build affordable, quality, stylish homes and achieve this by appointing award-winning architects, interior designers and craftspeople," he said.

"Our homes are built to be lived in so the usability of homes has been a primary consideration in the design and build. Hagan Homes reflect the needs of the modern day family and are designed to cater for changing needs as families grow."

Mr Hagan also took the opportunity to highlight some the key challenges affecting the home construction industry in the north.

"There are still a number of challenges to the local home building sector. These revolve around the delay caused by the planning system in Northern Ireland, which to date has not been improved by the transfer of powers to the local councils," he said.

"One of the main issues is the length of time that statutory consultants, such as Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Transport NI and Rivers Agency, are taking to respond to planning applications."

Last year, the firm began a £30m, five-year project to build 250 new homes in Antrim - the largest development of its kind in the area for more than a decade.

In February, Hagan Homes also commenced work on a project in Dunmurray that will see the construction 35 dwellings in a development costing £4.5m.

Construction on the 2.3 acre Willow Park site is expected to take up to 18 months to complete.

Other developments delivered by Hagan Homes include the Old Church Square in Dundonald, The Nursery in Ballymena and Titanic Walk in Belfast.

In their most recent accounts, to the year ending June 30 last year, Hagan Homes recorded a turnover of £16.7m with an after-tax profit of £1.7m, up from £419,000 in 2015.

Based in Ballyclare, Hagan Homes was founded 1988 by James Hagan, who's primary focus on building houses for the first time buyer market. Since 2008, the firm has been run by James' son, Jamesy.