Contact our TeamInfrastructure / Assets
Mid and East Antrim has well-developed infrastructure in place for roads and transportation, telecoms, electricity and gas networks as well as for other key utilities such as water and waste-water infrastructure, all of which are vital to regional prosperity and development.
Furthermore, there is continued investment in improving and expanding this asset base by both the public and private sectors.
Ongoing investment includes:
Broadband Provision and Connectivity
Telecoms infrastructure providers such as the BT Group and Virgin Media have invested heavily in recent years to improve the infrastructure across Northern Ireland. For example, £150m has been invested by Virgin since 2016 meaning their network of nearly 400,000 mostly urban-based homes and businesses (including Ballymena and Carrickfergus) can benefit from average download speeds of 1,140Mbps.
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is one of 10 local councils which have partnered in a £15m Full Fibre Network project investment announced in 2019. Using the Public Sector Anchor Tenancy model, the public sector sites will be connected with the fibre optic lines and then opened to the ISPs for use to provide for 1Gbps network broadband services to local businesses.
In late 2020 the NI Government announced a £150m investment via Project Stratum to improve broadband connectivity by extending Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband infrastructure to approximately 79,000 premises across rural Northern Ireland including parts of Mid and East Antrim with guaranteed speeds in excess of 30Mbs.
Industry Accommodation
There is an extensive range of commercial and industrial property types and sites available throughout the Borough; from office accommodation and factory buildings through to development sites. Social enterprise businesses include: Ballymena Business Centre, Carrickfergus Enterprise Centre and LEDCOM in Larne, offer an extensive range of quality accommodation and provide support services for SMEs. There are several private sector owned business parks including the extensive sites at Kilroot in Carrickfergus and Silverwood in Ballymena that typically provide larger sized units for rental. Invest NI also has a range of industrial sites available in the Borough.
in 2018 Council developed a small Business Incubation Centre at the Ecos Parkland in Ballymena presently managed by the innovation specialist Catalyst. Council is currently leading on the development of the i4C Innovation Centre at the Saint Patrick’s Barracks regeneration site in Ballymena. This new build facility of circa 9,000m2 will offer a mix of labs and incubation workshops for rental by SME’s and Grade A office accommodation for key targets sectors such as cleanech or fintech. It is also the base for the iLAB (innovation laboratory) a staffed facility comprising a makerspace and cleantech training and demonstration suite.
To make an initial enquiry about any property offering or type across the Borough, please complete your business requirements on our Property Request form.
