The £16.5m Dunluce Lodge will boast 35 rooms and will be the sixth five-star hotel in Northern Ireland, creating 80 jobs when complete.

The company behind the development, the Links Collection, was co-founded by Texans Jonathan Harper and Robert Covington with a mission “to bring the greatest hospitality experiences to the premier golf courses on earth”.

A team from Maxwell and Company, Inverness, are behind the design while Valor Hospitality Partners will manage the Lodge.

Royal Portrush’s former manager Wilma Eskine, who was in charge of the club when the 2019 Open was brought there, was recently appointed as a brand ambassador for Valor and the build will now be complete in time for the championship’s return in 2025.

Mr Harper and Mr Covington said: “We experienced and love links golf in Ireland and particularly Portrush. Although initially viewed as a family home, we soon realised that the nine-acres would be the perfect site for a golf lodge.

“We are excited that others will have the opportunity to enjoy the same experience we did, and we can give something back to a local community that has been so supportive.’

Links Collection also includes Scores Hotel and Dunvegan Hotel in St Andrews.

“Owners, investors, Valor and the local business community will collaborate to develop this world class lodge. We expect that as many as 80 local jobs created.”

Construction is being carried out by Ballymena construction company Martin & Hamilton, which has worked on heritage projects such as Belfast’s Albert Memorial Clock.

Director David A Hamilton said: “We employ local tradesmen who take great pride in their craft and deliver a finished product which realises the designer’s vision for Dunluce Lodge.

“We have also planned a recruitment event as a forum for discussions between our construction manager and the local supply chain.”

Lead architect James Maxwell of Maxwell and Company, Inverness, said: “The Lodge will provide the hub of the development, evocative of the original house and closest to the golf course, behind which will sit a courtyard and two-storey accommodation which enables good integration with the land’s contours.”

The project won planning permission in June 2021,

After the original plans were rejected in 2018 on the back of “community feedback”, North Coast Ventures Limited said it accepted its proposals “were not appropriate”, adding: “We have listened to the local community and the feedback we have received during the consultation process.

“We still firmly believe that the north coast is an area which needs higher quality accommodation and a greater number of hotel rooms.”

Letters of support for the new application were received from the Ireland Golf Tour Operator Association, Bushmills Trust, DUP MPs — Ian Paisley and Gregory Campbell and 2011 Open champion Darren Clarke.

He said: “There is a great need for five-star accommodation in the area to satisfy the requirements of the high-end US golfers, who at present often return to Belfast rather than staying in the north Coast .”

The 2019 staging of the championship on the club’s Dunluce Links was one of the most successful Opens on record and even boasted a home winner in Offaly’s Shane Lowry.

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