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.
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]
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]
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. 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] 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."[18]