Work on the Tower Centre in Ballymena consisted of the construction of a new entrance and a new two-storey extension housing retail units on the ground floor and a food court on the first floor.
Internally, the new entrance leads to retails units at ground floor level with disabled access via a ramp. The first floor consists of a food court with large seating area and new retail units for food outlets. A new public toilet was installed and air conditioning was fitted to the toilet and restaurant area. In addition two new fire escape staircase exits were provided.
The project was carried out under difficult conditions as the front entrance had to be accessible to the public throughout the duration of the project; this was achieved through phasing the work to maintain public access and through the construction of temporary walkways.
Consideration for the other retail units still operating while work was underway meant that noise levels had to be restricted. As part of the project alterations were made to the management suite and the security area was relocated, to allow these functions to remain operational temporary accommodation was set-up.