Latest news with #MichaelStanley
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Army veteran, 84, begins final Tintanic II mission
A retired army major is hanging up his oars after rowing nearly 500 miles in homemade tin boats for charity – but not before one final challenge. Michael Stanley, known as Major Mick, first took to the seas and rivers of southern England on his boat, dubbed Tintanic, to raise money for a Ukrainian orphanage in 2020. He said the orphanage is closing as the majority of children had been rehoused with their extended families and the few remaining were being taken into the Romanian care system. The 84-year-old, who has so far raised £88,000 by rowing 480 miles, set off from Chichester Yacht Club on Friday as he begins his final year of fundraising with hopes of reaching £100,000 and 500 miles. Mr Stanley sold the original Tintanic for £480, which he donated to the orphanage, and built Tintanic II, which he will use for the final time this year. The funds raised in his final challenge will be donated to St Wilfrid's Hospice, based in Chichester. During his rowing challenges across England, Scotland and Wales, Mr Stanley has met the King and the prime minister, but said the time had come to call it a day. "My wife isn't too keen on travelling with the boat in the car and I'm starting to run out of ideas," he said. "It's been a fantastic way of passing the time, but it's the people that have made it so special." The Duke of Richmond launched Tintanic II from the Chichester Yacht Club, in Birdham, at 11:00 BST on Friday. Mr Stanley left the pontoon at 11:45 and rowed a short distance to get a few more miles under his belt, before taking on a series of rows later this year. He said he expected to do more than 500 miles and was even planning to row along the entire northern coast of the Isle of Wight. Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Army vet Major Mick, 81, sets sail on Tintanic II Army veteran launches charity row in homemade boat
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Army veteran, 84, begins final Tintanic II mission
A retired army major is hanging up his oars after rowing nearly 500 miles in homemade tin boats for charity – but not before one final challenge. Michael Stanley, known as Major Mick, first took to the seas and rivers of southern England on his boat, dubbed Tintanic, to raise money for a Ukrainian orphanage in 2020. He said the orphanage is closing as the majority of children had been rehoused with their extended families and the few remaining were being taken into the Romanian care system. The 84-year-old, who has so far raised £88,000 by rowing 480 miles, set off from Chichester Yacht Club on Friday as he begins his final year of fundraising with hopes of reaching £100,000 and 500 miles. Mr Stanley sold the original Tintanic for £480, which he donated to the orphanage, and built Tintanic II, which he will use for the final time this year. The funds raised in his final challenge will be donated to St Wilfrid's Hospice, based in Chichester. During his rowing challenges across England, Scotland and Wales, Mr Stanley has met the King and the prime minister, but said the time had come to call it a day. "My wife isn't too keen on travelling with the boat in the car and I'm starting to run out of ideas," he said. "It's been a fantastic way of passing the time, but it's the people that have made it so special." The Duke of Richmond launched Tintanic II from the Chichester Yacht Club, in Birdham, at 11:00 BST on Friday. Mr Stanley left the pontoon at 11:45 and rowed a short distance to get a few more miles under his belt, before taking on a series of rows later this year. He said he expected to do more than 500 miles and was even planning to row along the entire northern coast of the Isle of Wight. Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Army vet Major Mick, 81, sets sail on Tintanic II Army veteran launches charity row in homemade boat
Irish Examiner
08-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Level of office building over house building 'not sustainable', says developer
The high level of office building versus the low level of residential building in cities such as Dublin and Cork is 'simply not sustainable', the chief executive of Cairn Homes has said, adding that apartment construction will need to increase significantly if housing targets are to be reached. Michael Stanley was speaking following Cairn Homes' annual general meeting (AGM) in Dublin on Thursday. He said Dublin is 'quite a unique city, and Cork is not dissimilar' in that the amount of land available to increase the number of people living in our city is 'pretty low' and a very large proportion of that land that was available now has offices built on it. 'We have been incredibly successful as a city in building new office blocks, to some extent, hotels also,' he said. 'If you look at the ratio of office build to apartment build in central Dublin it's roughly a ratio of 6 sqm or 7 sqm of office for every sqm of residential and that's just simply not sustainable. We can't have a city, a vibrant city, with all of the positive things that goes with any city that people live in, if you have that imbalance in what's built. On whether the housing development sector will reach the Government's stated goal of 300,000 new homes by 2030 - 50,000 a year - Mr Stanley said in order to hit those targets, 25,000 new units would have to be apartments. 'I've no doubt that Ireland will build 25,000 low density homes a year, every year, and there will be demand for those,' he said. "Apartment building in Ireland is not straightforward,' he said, adding that regulations on building apartments are high. Home completions last year stood at 30,330 - far below what the Government expected - largely due to a fall-off in apartment completions. The number of apartments completed in 2024 was 8,763, down 24.1% from 2023. At the company's AGM, the property developer welcomed a 'very positive" trading environment, with 2025 so far seeing continued scaling in the homebuilder's operating platform and increased investment in the number of active sites across Ireland. Reiterating its guidance for this year, Cairn Homes said its closed and forward sales pipeline now stands at around 3,250 new homes with a net sales value of approximately €1.25bn. That is up from 2,953 closed and forward sales at the end of February, which totalled a net sales value of €989m. Mr Stanley said their target is to grow their housing output by between 10% and 15% this year. 'We like our chances of hitting our growth targets and continue to deliver more,' he said. Cairn Homes said it expects build cost inflation to be running at 2% and while it was mindful of the potential impact of changes in global trade policies, it is not witnessing any adverse effect on its business at present. The company said it is seeing a stable environment for labour costs and they are not expecting to see significant growth in their average selling price this year. Cairn Homes is forecasting revenue growth in excess of 10% for 2025, with operating profit expected to be around €160m. Housing commencements so far this year are trending far lower than during 2024 with just under 3,000 notices issued between January and March. The number of commencements in 2024 were boosted by developers rushing to begin developments to take advantage of a series of levy waivers and rebates. Read More Thousands of new homes planned for Cork, but planning and infrastructure still holding projects back
Irish Independent
08-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Cairn Homes says Government has asked it to build more
Michael Stanley said he and his company have had extensive engagement with the coalition over the last couple of months, and he found it to be 'especially open to robust conversations about what has been working in the past, and our view of what can increase output'. He said the interaction has been 'challenging' from the Government side too. 'There was a very honest conversation about how Cairn and other large home builders could step up to the plate and deliver more.' Speaking after the AGM of the country's biggest house builder, Mr Stanley said he would expect the new Housing Minister, James Browne, and his team to research the sector, meet stakeholders and decide on their policies. 'I think we will probably see some results of that in the weeks ahead, on areas like planning. We expect to see some news pretty soon around what their thoughts are on how to free up more development land in the short term.' Bullish about the prospects for the sector, Mr Stanley said that Cairn's output grew by 30pc last year, and its target is to grow by another 10-15pc this year He predicts there will be an increase on last year's total output, of 30,300 units, but it's too early to say what the number might be. The Cairn Homes chief added that if Ireland is to get to to 50,000 units a year. 'the answer that nobody wants to hear is that has to include 25,000 apartments. We don't have the land to build 50,000 houses every year. Our National Development Plan won't allow it, our population our demographics won't allow it, or how land is designated for density. 'I have no doubt that Ireland will build 25,000 low-density homes a year, every year, and there will be demand for those. But we built through a lot of the low hanging fruit over the last 10 years.' Cairn Homes is not expecting to see any growth in its selling prices this year, and says cost inflation is running below the expected level of about 2pc. While it remains 'mindful of the potential impact of changes in global trade policies, we are not witnessing any adverse effect on our business at present', it added. In relation to reports that Cairn has approached Clontarf golf club about doing a land swap so it can build housing on the 72-acre site, Mr Stanley said: 'We haven't done any deal with any golf club. It is our job to look at locations within our cities to see if they may represent appropriate land use for residential development, and we look at strategic sites all over the city and the country all the time. "It doesn't mean that particular opportunity is well progressed or is the only opportunity that we would be looking at. At any given point of time, we might be looking at dozens of various infill and other opportunities.' The CEO pointed out that this is Cairn's 10th year in business and the company is proud of having over 30,000 people live in one of its homes. 'As we embark on our second decade, our commitment to scale our delivery of high quality, energy efficient homes, in line with our core values, is stronger than ever.'
Irish Examiner
08-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Homebuilder Cairn welcomes 'positive' trading environment with growing sales pipeline
Irish developer Cairn Homes has welcomed a "very positive" trading environment, with 2025 so far seeing continued scaling in the homebuilder's operating platform and increased investment in the number of active sites across Ireland. Reiterating its guidance for this year, Cairn Homes said its closed and forward sales pipeline now stands at around 3,250 new homes with a net sales value of approximately €1.25bn. That is up from 2,953 closed and forward sales at the end of February, which totalled a net sales value of €989m. "Ireland's newly formed Government has been very clear in its ambition to almost double housing output," Cairn Homes said in a trading update on Thursday. "Cairn's established market-leading position will allow us to respond to this challenge." The homebuilder said a focus on the first-time buyer market will result in increased WIP investment in the first half of this year and a higher proportion of its full-year revenue in the second half. "We are progressing a number of new forward sales and forward fund transactions with our State partners. "This demand across our multiple tenures will result in our closed and forward sales pipeline continuing to grow throughout the year." Build cost inflation is currently running below Cairn's expected level of 2%, with the company saying that while it was mindful of the potential impact of changes in global trade policies, it is not witnessing any adverse effect on its business at present. Cairn Homes is forecasting revenue growth in excess of 10% for 2025, with operating profit expected to be around €160m. 'We've experienced sustained, positive momentum since the start of the year, as evidenced by the growth in our order book to over 3,000 new homes," said Cairn Homes CEO, Michael Stanley. "This is our 10th year in business and my colleagues and I are genuinely proud that over 30,000 people now live in a Cairn built home "As we embark on our second decade, our commitment to scale our delivery of high-quality, energy-efficient homes, in line with our core values, is stronger than ever."
