Ballymena
Ballymena Campus Opening September 2025
The countdown is on until we open the doors of our new campus in Ballymena, located off St Patricks Link Road, on an extended site of the previous Farm Lodge campus.
Fully funded by the Department for the Economy, the £51 million development project, will consolidate the College’s provision in Ballymena, offering world-class facilities for around 1,800 learners annually.
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.
For general enquiries email communications@nrc.ac.uk
Up and Coming Events
Join us for a special public closing event on Thursday 29 May from 5.00 pm to 6.00 pm at our Trostan Avenue campus, as we prepare to welcome students to our new Ballymena campus opening in September 2025. This event marks the closure of our current Ballymena campuses and offers a final opportunity to take one last look around Trostan Avenue.
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 via Granville Drive and 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
Temporary car parking arrangements will be in place at Ballymena Campus until the new car park opens in January 2026, as the existing Farm Lodge building needs to be demolished.
There may be temporary car parking onsite, however the majority of parking will be serviced by the Ballymena Showgrounds opposite the new building. Map to follow.
Drone Footage
You can view previous drone footage on the College's Youtube channel.
Image Gallery
(Actual view of the building as of April 2025)
Project Update
At Farm Lodge, Ballymena, our second new build project is also progressing well. The brand-new campus will amalgamate our three locations in the town to one central, impressive site. Completion of the 16,800 m2 Ballymena campus is scheduled for March 2025 and it will be open for students at the start of the 2025/26 academic year in September 2025.
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 £51 milion campus is being 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.
Project Outline
Our plans are for one campus for Ballymena with a new build on the existing Farm Lodge site, with the closure of Trostan Avenue and Lamont Building.
In the main building, the innovation zone will be a flexible area that can be adapted for a wide range of activities including cross curriculum project based learning, conferences and performances. The hair and beauty salons will, at set times, be open to the public to provide our students with the opportunity to train in a live environment. The new campus will have a stand-alone sports hall that can be available to be hired for external community activities.
