Ballymena
Economy Minister Dr. Caoimhe Archibald officially opened the new £55 million Ballymena Campus on 8 October 2025, consolidating the College's provision in Ballymena into one state-of-the-art learning and training facility, which will benefit thousands of students and the wider community. Fully funded by the Department for the Economy, the Ballymena Campus is reporting a 12% increase in full-time enrolments for the new academic year. Read more.
Take a virtual tour around our new world-class learning facilities at Ballymena Campus.
Location
Situated on the former Farm Lodge site, the Ballymena Campus unifies the College’s provision within the town into a single, modern, accessible, and future-focused facility. At its highest point, the 16,800m² building rises five storeys allowing staff, students and stakeholders to enjoy panoramic views to the east over the ECOS landscape towards Slemish in the distance and to the west linking the new St. Patrick’s regeneration site. The campus features a dedicated Sports Zone, and will accommodate approximately 1,800 learners annually. It offers innovative spaces designed to align with the evolving requirements of a modern workforce.
How to get to Ballymena campus
Vehicle access to the campus will be via St Patricks Link and there is pedestrian access to and from the town centre currently via Suffolk Street. The town centre is a few minutes walk from the campus.
Train and bus stations are located on Galgorm Road. There is a handy journey planner on the Translink to help you plan your route.
Car and Cycle Parking
Free car parking for staff, students and visitors is available in Car Park A, located at Ballymena Showgrounds and accessed via St. Patrick’s Link. From there, it is a short walk to the campus along the footpath beside the new road. Accessible parking is provided to the right of the main building and is reached through the St. Patrick’s Link entrance. This arrangement is in place until the new on-site car park opens in January 2026 with over 450 spaces including EV charging points, accessible and cycle parking.
Drone Footage
You can view previous drone footage on the College's Youtube channel.
Image Gallery
(Actual view of the building and construction progress of car park as of October 2025)
Project Update
At Farm Lodge, Ballymena, our second new build project is also progressing well. The brand-new campus amalgamated three locations in the town to one central, impressive site. Completion of the 16,800 m2 Ballymena campus was opened for students at the start of the 2025/26 academic year in September 2025. The demolition of the old campus and the development of the car park will be completed January 2026.
Heron Bros was appointed as the main contractor on the project in November 2021 and commenced on site in February 2022, with construction works underway in August 2022.
The new £55 million campus was built on a live operational site, involving complex phased construction and sectional completion. June 2023 marked the completion of the 1,000 tonnes structural steel installation. At its highest point, the building rises five storeys allowing staff and students to enjoy panoramic views to the east over the ECOS landscape towards Slemish in the distance and to the west linking the new St. Patrick’s regeneration site.
The supporting infrastructure works in terms of adjacent new link road are in place to service the project upon completion.