Builder in for long haul

INTERVIEW/ARAN BLACKBOURNE, DIRECTOR, THE KARL GROUP:IN THE current climate there are few opportunities for property developers in Northern Ireland to enjoy a serendipitous moment. But Aran Blackbourne seems to make a habit of being in exactly the right place at just the right time.

Take for example his recent visit to one of his company’s current projects, the £75 million (€85.7 million) Obel development, currently under construction in Belfast.

Blackbourne and his sister Gayle are both directors of the Karl Group, the Co Antrim-based company originally established by their father Cedric. Both are part of a new club in the North – the emerging second generation of property developers who have an established family track record and ambitious plans for the future.

The Obel is the jewel in the crown of the Blackbourne portfolio, which includes everything from small residential developments to major urban renewal schemes, such as a joint venture £100 million project to transform Bangor. The obelisk-styled, 28-storey, 88m high, glass fronted structure on the banks of the River Lagan has really pushed the Karl Group into the limelight.

Aran Blackbourne happened to be on the 18th floor of the Obel Tower on the day the Tall Ships Festival kicked off in Belfast. He had the perfect vantage point from its location on Donegall Quay to witness the city’s excitement at welcoming the 40-strong flotilla to its docks.

Standing tall, looking down on the city, Blackbourne had a glimpse of old meeting new as majestic ships from a bygone age docked alongside the state-of-the-art Odyssey Arena. It was a moment to savour, because the Obel Tower felt part of the magic.

The multi-million pound development will feature 233 residential apartments, office accommodation, retail space and potentially a 105-bed hotel. Apartments released in the first phase were snapped up within three hours when they were launched at the height of the property boom.

Given the current state of the property market, it is unlikely there is going to be as much of a clamour for apartments when the next phase is released. But Blackbourne is philosophical about where the market is now.

“Property is always a very serious business, but it is a particularly serious business at the moment; we have to be very careful with all the steps that we make.

“But given the strategy we have – which is to work on significant projects which are extremely well designed, that are long term developments and we are not looking for a short term kick – we like to think that our strategy will carry us through, and that is what is happening with us at the moment,” he says.

Blackbourne says the group enjoys a good working relationship with local banks and is continuing to win strong support for its projects, particularly from Bank of Scotland, which is involved in the Obel and Bangor.

For Blackbourne and the Karl Group in general, the Obel represents another major opportunity to significantly “make a difference”. The group was previously involved in a £40 million private finance initiative project to develop Laganside Court complex in Belfast.

The group is also one of three parties promoting the multi-million pound Marine Gardens regeneration project, which could transform Bangor in Co Down.

The Karl Group has grown substantially since it was established, chiefly as an electrical contracting firm, by Cedric Blackbourne in 1957. In the 1970s he established a construction division, but it was a family tragedy which gave the company the name it bears today.

Cedric Blackbourne renamed the family business Karl Holdings after his eldest son Karl, a policeman, was shot dead by the IRA in 1986.

Five years later the company was to suffer a further tragedy when a van carrying construction workers who had been working on a security base for Karl Holdings was blown up by the IRA in Teebane in Tyrone. Eight men died in the attack.

Aran Blackbourne is proud that the family business bears the name of his brother. It is, he says, their very unique way of always keeping him close.

“I was 18 and he was 19 and it was hard to take; time is a healer, but it doesn’t heal everything. Karl never worked in the business but it is our way of acknowledging him, and I do like the name. Dad tried very hard to get Karl not to join the police, but at the end of the day he did what he wanted to do and I admire him for doing that,” says Blackbourne.

He, on the other hand, was always destined at some stage to join the family business.

“I worked in it during summer holidays – there always was a very strong work ethic in our family. It is a work-hard family; we did not get to where we are any other way.”

An engineering degree helped cement the skills he had learned “from the bottom up” first as a labourer, graduating to site manager and then to subsequent directorships.

Blackbourne believes that you never stop learning, and that every new project brings learning experiences with it that you should embrace.

“I am very hands-on, because that’s what gives you the real buzz. I like working with people and I wouldn’t want to sit in the office all day, so I like to get out and talk to people and find out what’s happening on sites,” he says.

The group itself directly employs about 150 people, but subcontracts all of its construction work. Blackbourne is reluctant to put a value on how much the Karl Group’s property portfolio could be worth.

“We do not go there really,” he says in a very typical Northern Ireland fashion when it comes to discussing hard-earned cash.

“It goes beyond the balance sheet, the profit and loss account – it has to. To have a real passion for something, it has to be more than just about profits. You need to really want the proper design, the right scheme, the right idea for a certain place,” Blackbourne says.

He is pretty upbeat about the group’s potential, but he is also not inclined to accept that giving up is ever an option – in any situation.

“I love good quality design. I believe that if a building is the right building in the right place, and the right design and the right team is involved, in time it will come good and will succeed.

“Our plan is to continue to develop significant projects which make a difference – we are a Northern Ireland company, we like this place and we want to do it here,” Blackbourne adds.

One of the Karl Group’s key strengths today, in his view, is the fact that it is a privately owned family business. “These things that come along in your life when you look back strengthen you and help you pull together and give you a resolve that other people have never experienced.

“When you have been in the types of situations that we have been in . . . those things strengthen your resolve to succeed, they strengthen your resolve to make a difference.”

On the record

Name: Aran Blackbourne

Born: Co Antrim

Age: 41

Position: Director, the Karl Group

Family: Married with three children

Background: Attended Ballyclare High School and Queen's University Belfast. He has a degree in engineering. After graduating he worked for the UK construction and civil engineering company McAlpine.

He has worked in Scotland and Germany. He travelled extensively in Africa and India and regularly travels to major European cities for inspiration on waterfront developments.

Hobbies: Mountain biking. He is also a qualified mini-rugby coach at Ballyclare Rugby Club.

Something that might surprise: Grows organic vegetables with his children – very keen cook – would "rather cook than go out – nothing better than eating your own stuff".