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Comer Group

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Comer House, New Barnet. A Comer residential development.

Comer Group is an international property development firm established by brothers Luke and Brian Comer. The company has its headquarters in London, and is mainly active in the UK and Ireland.

History

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Luke and Brian Comer were plasterers from County Galway, Ireland, who moved to London in 1984 and expanded into property development.[1] They set up the first of their many property development companies in 1985.[2] Comer Group Limited was incorporated in 2003.[3]

The growth of the brothers' business in Ireland was helped by investments in stalled 'Celtic Tiger' developments and buying up heavily discounted properties.[4] By May 2023, the brothers were running a property portfolio with an estimated value of over €1 billion.[5]

Projects

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The companies' UK projects included the conversion of the listed Friern Hospital (formerly Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum) to residential accommodation in the mid-1990s as Princess Park Manor,[6] redevelopment of the former Royal Masonic School for Boys in Bushey, Hertfordshire as Royal Connaught Park,[7] a housing development in Portland, Dorset,[8] and a proposed conversion of a former office block in Southend into residential apartments.[9] In Ireland, Comer projects include redevelopment of the University College Dublin veterinary college in Ballsbridge,[4] redevelopment of the Corrib Great Southern Hotel in Galway,[10] completion of a partly-built tower block, the Sentinel, in the Sandyford district of Dublin,[10][11] and redevelopment of an apartment block in Ballysadare, County Sligo.[10]

In July 2023, Comer launched an affordable home division, Dovepark Properties, to manage and maintain units across the group's UK residential developments.[12]

Mast Quay, Woolwich

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In September 2023, Comer Homes Group was ordered to demolish a build-to-rent development at Mast Quay in the Woolwich Dockyard area of southeast London. The waterfront development was between an earlier tower scheme (c. 2005) and the Woolwich Ferry carpark. Completed in late 2022, it comprised towers of 23, 11, nine and six storeys, but differed significantly from its original design. Comer only proposed revisions to the design in December 2022 when construction was nearly finished.[13] However, noting 26 main deviations from the original planning permission granted in 2012, Greenwich Council ordered Comer to demolish the blocks.[14][15]

Apartments marketed as having disabled access were found to have steps to the outdoor space; there were missing roof gardens; a garden area had become a carpark after the planned underground parking was never built; a child's play area was missing.[14][16] At the time of the enforcement notice the council believed that 78 of the development's 204 apartments were occupied,[17] and the developer continued to market flats to prospective new tenants.[18] The council said "the only reasonable and proportionate way to rectify the harm created by the finished Mast Quay Phase II development to the local area, and the tenants living there, because of the changes made during its construction, is the complete demolition and the restoration of the land to its former condition."[14]

Comer Homes Group expressed surprise and disappointment at the council's decision, and said its statements were inaccurate and misrepresented the company's actions, adding: "We will be appealing against the enforcement notice and look forward to robustly correcting the inaccuracies and addressing the council's concerns."[19]

In a planning inquiry which opened in July 2024, Comer claimed changes in company policy following the Grenfell Tower fire had led to it breaching planning permissions at Mast Quay. Greenwich council said the change to the façade cladding was just part of one of the 26 ways in which the development differs from the agreed permission, highlighting changes to the overall design, poor wheelchair access and the absence of promised commercial space, car parking and landscaping.[20] Tenants in the buildings called on the council to scrap plans for demolition, saying "it is wholly unreasonable that the remedy to this problem is for a perfectly good building to be demolished and for current tenants to be evicted".[21]

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  • Cavalier House, Uxbridge Road, Ealing, London W5.
    Cavalier House, Uxbridge Road, Ealing, London W5.
  • Comer Crescent, Southall, UB2.
    Comer Crescent, Southall, UB2.
  • Friern Hospital, New Southgate.
    Friern Hospital, New Southgate.
  • Platinum House, Harrow.
    Platinum House, Harrow.
  • 'The Sentinel' - an unfinished apartment tower in Sandyford, Dublin, acquired by the Comer Group
    'The Sentinel' - an unfinished apartment tower in Sandyford, Dublin, acquired by the Comer Group

References

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  1. ^ "History". The Comer Group. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Luke Andrew Comer". Companies House. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Comer Group Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  4. ^ a b Lyons, Madeliene (5 March 2015). "Luke Comer on a €400 million Irish property spending spree". The Irish Times. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  5. ^ Woods, Killian (28 May 2023). "Comer brothers property portfolio now worth €1.16bn". Business Post. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  6. ^ "The new cast of neighbours: Why the bling brigade is flocking to a former asylum in north London". The Independent. 9 March 2012.
  7. ^ "Royal Connaught Park". The Comer Group. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  8. ^ Lea, Martin (8 September 2018). "Next phase of Ocean Views development at Castletown on Portland unveiled". Dorset Echo.
  9. ^ "Huge step forward for 557-homes plan at landmark Southend office block". Echo. 16 August 2023.
  10. ^ a b c Woods, Killian (17 October 2021). "Condition of properties owned by Comer brothers raises questions". Business Post.
  11. ^ Faithfull, Mark (24 April 2023). "Residential Plans Finally Progress For Carcass Of Half-Finished Dublin Tower". Bisnow.
  12. ^ Wilkinson, Rory (20 July 2023). "Comer Homes launches dedicated affordable homes division". ShowHouse. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  13. ^ Coughlan, Joe (17 February 2023). "Developers could be forced to change 'eyesore' South London tower block". MyLondon. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  14. ^ a b c Booth, Robert (27 September 2023). "London apartment block that deviates from plans must be torn down, says council". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  15. ^ Prior, Grant (27 September 2023). "Council orders developer to tear down tower blocks". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  16. ^ "Council orders developer to pull down new flats". The Construction Index. 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  17. ^ "Demolish 'mutant' Mast Quay flats, Greenwich council orders developer". The Times. 28 September 2023.
  18. ^ Paul, Mark (14 October 2023). "Residents at Comer brothers' London tower blocks worry following demolition order". Irish Times. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  19. ^ Kelly, James (27 September 2023). "Woolwich: Developers ordered to demolish 'mutant' apartment blocks". BBC News. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  20. ^ Banks, Charlotte (25 July 2024). "Developer blames post-Grenfell reforms for tower planning breaches". Construction News. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  21. ^ Coughlan, Joe (29 July 2024). "Mast Quay Phase II residents want block plans scrapped". News Shopper. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
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