£27m Ballymena i4C centre faces questions over 30-year losses as consultation deadline nears

Rendered image South-East view of proposed i4C complex from St Patrick’s Link, Ballymena

A proposed £27 million Innovation and CleanTech Centre in Ballymena is facing questions over its long-term financial sustainability after Love Ballymena learned its business model projects a cumulative operating loss of around £1.5 million over 30 years.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is currently consulting on plans for the four-storey i4C centre at the former St Patrick’s Barracks site, with residents and businesses having until Wednesday, 9 September to comment on the proposals.

Council has promoted the development as a major investment in innovation, advanced manufacturing and CleanTech which could help businesses grow and strengthen Ballymena’s engineering base.

But behind those ambitions are significant questions about the project’s cost to ratepayers, its long-term financial model and whether assumptions underpinning an innovation facility today can remain robust over the next three decades.

£1.5m projected loss over 30 years

Aerial view of proposed i4C complex on St Patrick’s Link, Ballymena

Love Ballymena understands that the business model projects a cumulative operating loss of approximately £1.5 million over its first 30 years.

Love Ballymena is seeking confirmation from Mid and East Antrim Borough Council of that figure and further detail on how any projected operating deficit would be funded.

The figure relates to the operation of the centre rather than recovering the millions of pounds being invested in constructing it.

Concerns over the financial model have already surfaced publicly in the council chamber.

At a full council meeting on 16 February, UUP councillor Roy Beggs challenged the financial assumptions behind i4C as members dealt with the appointment of Oxford Innovation Ltd for its pre-operation phase.

UUP councillor Roy Beggs

Cllr Beggs told the meeting:

“What we were unaware of was the business model that it would be serving — a loss-making business model having invested £27 million.”

He said he had become concerned after examining a business case which he understood had last been developed in 2022.

Cllr Beggs added:

“If I had known as a new councillor that the business model that we were going to be serving with this consultancy was almost three years out of date and also was a loss-making model, I would have not proposed it.”

Council officer confirms deficit

Map showing connections for the site proposed for the i4C complex on St Patrick’s Link, Ballymena

The existence of a projected deficit was confirmed during the same meeting by council Programme Director Jonathan McGrandle.

He told elected members:

“Yes, you’re right, there is a deficit with the project.”

Mr McGrandle said the council was working with Oxford Innovation in an effort to reduce those losses, including developing a letting policy and marketing the centre to potential occupiers before it opens.

He said the intention was to establish a list of prospective clients so businesses could potentially move into i4C from day one, helping “mitigate and reduce these deficits that council is facing into in relation to the project”.

The financial projections are also being revised.

From 7,000sqm to 5,200sqm

The project’s evolution raises further questions about how its financial assumptions have changed.

Council previously described i4C as a £23.5 million development covering approximately 7,000 square metres. Its latest published material describes a £27 million, 5,200sqm facility.

Jonathan McGrandle, Programme Director (Regeneration and Strategic Projects), Mid and East Antrim Borough Council

At February’s council meeting, Mr McGrandle confirmed the reduction in size had formed part of efforts to address cost pressures.

He said:

“We have reduced the footprint of the building from 7,000 square metres to 5,200 square metres and we’re going through the process of having the business case revised.”

The value-engineering exercise focused particularly on removing or reducing areas which would not produce income.

Staff accommodation was among the space reduced, while Mr McGrandle said higher rental values for Grade A office accommodation meant the council believed it could generate comparable revenue from a smaller footprint.

How much will ratepayers pay?

Floor plans for the proposed i4C CleanTech Centre on St Patrick’s Link, Ballymena

The £27 million headline cost does not mean Mid and East Antrim ratepayers are funding the entire development.

The project is receiving approximately £20.5 million through the Belfast Region City Deal. Council currently describes the overall development as costing £27m.

During February’s debate, DUP Alderman William McGaughey told members:

“This is not a £27 million investment by council, this is a £6 million investment by council.”

That figure itself demonstrates how the project’s finances have evolved.

An independent subsidy assessment published in January 2025 recorded an estimated capital cost of around £24 million, with £20.5 million in subsidy funding representing approximately 85% of the capital cost and an anticipated MEABC contribution of £3.5 million.

The council subsequently confirmed that cost pressures had required changes to the project and an additional council contribution.

Mr McGrandle told councillors in February:

“Subsequently that has resulted in an additional cost requirement from council which has obviously been approved through the setting of the rate.”

For ratepayers, therefore, there are two separate financial questions: how much the council will ultimately contribute towards constructing i4C, and how much it may subsequently have to contribute towards keeping it operating.

A 30-year bet on the future

Vehicular entrance to proposed i4C from St Patrick’s Link, Ballymena

The reported 30-year financial projection also raises a broader question about the lifespan of the assumptions on which i4C is being built.

CleanTech, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, automation, energy technology and working practices are all developing rapidly.

Nobody can reliably predict what those sectors — or the type of physical facilities businesses require — will look like three decades from now.

That does not mean i4C will become obsolete. A well-designed innovation centre could potentially adapt as industries and technologies change.

But if the business model anticipates a cumulative deficit stretching across decades, there is a legitimate question for the council over what assumptions it has made about future demand, technological change and the adaptability of a specialist £27 million building throughout that period.

It also raises the question of who ultimately carries the financial risk if occupancy, rental income or demand for its facilities falls below expectations.

Council argues investment is about growth

Supporters of i4C argue that focusing solely on whether the building generates an operating profit misses its wider purpose.

Ald McGaughey strongly defended the investment during February’s meeting.

He said:

“We’re not going to turnover a profit in the first year or two, but hopefully long term. And that’s what it’s about. It’s about the long-term growth of Mid and East Antrim.”

He pointed to Ballymena’s engineering and manufacturing base and argued that investment was needed now to develop the workforce and companies of the future.

“This is an investment in the engineers and apprentices that are probably in primary school or secondary school at the minute, to give them somewhere to go, to give them somewhere they can grow.”

Referencing companies including Wrightbus, he added:

“The growth potential for Ballymena is massive.”

Interim Chief Executive Valerie Watts also told the meeting she had received representations from local enterprise development organisations indicating demand for this type of accommodation.

“They simply cannot get enough of this type of space,” she said.

“They are crying out to try to find other premises, to try to grow this type of facility.”

Council’s published case for i4C is similarly ambitious. It says the centre will provide Grade A offices, co-working accommodation, laboratories and workshops for SMEs and an innovation laboratory offering hands-on technical support.

What will actually be inside i4C?

The consultation drawings provide the clearest picture yet of the proposed building.

Plans show laboratories and SME accommodation on the ground floor, together with reception and café facilities.

The upper floors would provide SME workspace, Grade A offices and supporting meeting and collaboration areas.

The development would also include substantial car parking and pedestrian and cycle connections, with links towards the neighbouring ECOS Hub.

The building forms part of the much wider regeneration of the former St Patrick’s Barracks site, a strategically important 15-hectare area close to Ballymena town centre.

Operator already appointed

Meanwhile, elements of the project are already contractually committed.

Elected members approved Oxford Innovation as operator at the Environment and Economy Committee on 23 June 2025.

According to the Interim Chief Executive, the pre-operation phase can cost up to approximately £92,000 per year over three-and-a-half years, with the actual cost dependent upon the work commissioned.

Cllr Beggs asked in February whether the appointment could be reconsidered following the information he had subsequently examined.

The council solicitor advised that it could not.

“The contract has been entered, it has gone through proper process,” members were told.

Refusing to proceed would, the solicitor advised, essentially put the authority in breach of its agreement with the successful bidder.

Ms Watts later summed up the legal position:

“The sealing of this is a fait accompli. We can’t go back on it.”

Revised business case will be crucial

The council is now revising the i4C business case following the reduction in the building’s footprint and changes to the financial contribution required from the authority.

That document should provide a much clearer test of whether the economic benefits being promised justify the long-term financial commitment being made on behalf of ratepayers.

It should also show the assumptions being made around occupancy, rents, operating expenditure, future income and when — if ever — the centre itself is expected to operate without council subsidy.

Those questions matter particularly after successive increases in the district rate, which are being borne by households and businesses across Ballymena, Larne, Carrickfergus and the wider borough.

Have your say before 9 September

For now, residents and businesses have an opportunity to scrutinise the physical proposals themselves.

The consultation remains open until Wednesday, 9 September 2026.

Plans can be viewed and feedback submitted at:

Consultation – Take Part

Comments made during the Pre-Application Community Consultation are not formal representations to the planning authority.

If a planning application is subsequently submitted, residents will have another opportunity to make formal representations.

The argument for i4C is that public investment now could help build Ballymena’s next generation of engineering, advanced manufacturing and CleanTech businesses, creating economic benefits considerably wider than the income generated by the building itself.

The unanswered question is the other side of that calculation: exactly how much ratepayers will ultimately be asked to contribute, for how long, and what safeguards exist to ensure a centre designed around today’s technologies and economic assumptions remains valuable enough to justify that support decades from now.

Love Ballymena has submitted a Freedom of Information request to Mid and East Antrim Borough Council seeking greater transparency around the financial implications of the i4C project.

The request seeks details of the latest business case and 30-year financial projections, the scale and duration of any anticipated operating deficit, the total contribution required from Council, assumptions around occupancy and rental income, sensitivity testing if those targets are not achieved, and the projected economic benefits for the borough.

We have also asked Council to clarify the reported £1.5 million cumulative operating loss over 30 years and to provide information on how any future deficit would be funded. Love Ballymena will examine the information when it is received and report further on what the project could ultimately mean for ratepayers.