Dowds Group has been officially welcomed to Mid and East Antrim Borough by the Mayor after opening its new headquarters in Ballymena.

Established by John Francis and Hector Dowds in 1978, the company merged their Belfast and Ballymoney offices last year and relocated to their new headquarters at Parkway Ballymena following an investment of £3 million.

The Mayor visited the premises to officially oversee the renaming of the building as Killagan House, after the homeplace of the founding brothers where the company was first established.

Dowds Group has a wide range of expertise across the construction industry, providing Building Services, Construction, Facilities Management and more recently Energy Solutions.

Its impressive portfolio of multi-million-pound projects, includes Ulster University Belfast, Nightingale Hospital in Whiteabbey, Royal College of Music in London, Southlakes Leisure Centre in Craigavon, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Coventry University.

Speaking of the move, the Mayor, Alderman Gerardine Mulvenna, said: "It gave me great pleasure to meet the team at Dowds Group and officially unveil the name of their new Ballymena headquarters as Killagan House.

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"Council is proud to welcome Dowds Group to the Borough and value the support it will make to our local economy. They boast an impressive portfolio spanning the UK and Ireland throughout their 45 years in business, and I’m excited to see what’s to come in this new era for the business.

"I'm confident that Ballymena provides the ideal base for their business, due to its proximity to Belfast with key transport and infrastructural links, as well as a vibrant town centre for staff to enjoy. It’s also an exciting time to relocate to the town with the ongoing development of the St. Patrick’s Barracks site, which upon completion will deliver some £160m+ of investment.

"We regularly hear from inward investors that as well as location, our rich pool of outstanding talent across a wide range of sectors, skills, ages and backgrounds is one of their primary draws to Mid and East Antrim.

"We remain committed to doing everything we can to make the experience for companies like Dowds who decide to locate in Mid and East Antrim as seamless as possible, from start to finish, and providing support to ensure their ongoing success."

James Dowds, Managing Director of Dowds Group, said: "We are delighted to make Killagan House and Ballymena our new home. The investment in our new state-of-the-art facilities not only allows us to bring our NI team together under one roof but has the capacity to accommodate our future growth.

"We are grateful to the Mayor and the entire MEA Council for their assistance in aiding our transition to the town. We have recently become members of the Manufacturing Task Force and we are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with the council and the many other flourishing local businesses to use our collective expertise to propel Ballymena to forefront of innovation and competitiveness."