Research carried out by the local office of the commercial property advisory CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) found that, while rental prices are always likely to be a common consideration for office occupiers in Dublin, location is currently the leading concern.
Around 250 occupiers of Dublin office space were quizzed by CBRE on the subject, with a city-centre location high on the list of priorities for business bosses in the city, along with proximity to local transport links and general amenities.
Other factors found to be driving the office renting decisions of office space occupants in Dublin are the appearance of a particular building, the size and suitability of its floorplates and the extent to which it has been appropriately fitted-out.
“The results of this survey confirm our assertion that rental cost alone is not the deciding factor for many corporate organisations when making location decisions,” said Paddy Conlon, CBRE’s director and head of corporate services.
“For some, the benefits of being located in a particular part of the city or being close to public transport might outweigh all other factors, while for others, the quality of the building or the layout of the floor plate might be the deciding element.”
According to CBRE’s findings on the Dublin market, just over three-quarters of decisions to relocate to new offices in the city were made at a local level. At the same time, the remaining quarter came as instructions from head offices elsewhere in the world. Close to half of the organisations polled in the research said they consulted their staff during the process of picking out a new area of office space in or close to Dublin.
CBRE itself has a considerable office space presence in Dublin and in the Northern Irish capital Belfast, as well as in London and other sites around the UK.
Editor’s notes: In 2022, it was reported that the total take-up of office space in Dublin was 233,820 square metres which was below the 10-year average of 240,000 square metres but represented a 60 per cent on 2021’s figure.
In the first quarter of 2023, it was predicted that vacancy rates would likely peak at 15 per cent during the year and start decreasing in 2024.
In 2023, the annual office take-up in the Dublin market was 130,063 square metres, which was just over half the 10-year average. This indicates continued challenges in the Dublin office market due to global uncertainty.
Prime office rents remained stable in 2023, at around €6 per square metre, and rose above this level in certain cases for high-quality buildings with excellent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) credentials.
The vacancy rate in the city centre was 15.9 per cent, while in the suburbs, it was 16.7 per cent.