Linkedin signs major Dublin office deal

GLOBAL social network giant Linkedin has just inked a major Dublin office deal which could allow it add up to 3,000 further Irish jobs, on top of the 2,000 it is already due to employ in the capital by mid-2020.

Linkedin, which is owned by Microsoft and which has 600 million business/professional subscribers worldwide, has finalised a deal to take on an extra 430,000 sq ft of offices in Dublin 2. It's a city development called Wilton Park which is the focus of a €350 million investment by Irish real estate leaders IPUT.

Linkedin and IPUT have already joined forces in Wilton Park, after a commitment by Linkedin to take 150,000 sq ft of offices, currently under construction and which will bring its Irish workforce to 2,000 by the middle of this year.

The social network company used by professionals worldwide employed 1,200 in Dublin during 2019 and announced it was adding 800 jobs by 2020.

Now, this latest and far larger office deal could allow it to add up to or even over 3,000 more Dublin Linkedin employees in the medium to long term. Its parent company, Microsoft, already employs 2,000 in Dublin's Leopardstown.

The 430,000 sq ft buildings comprise the balance of office space at IPUT's Wilton Park. They are called Two, Three and Four Wilton Park and construction will start on site this year, due for completion by 2023.

With close to 600,000 sq ft now being taken at D2's Wilton Park by Linkedin, it size terms the company's Dublin footprint will be twice the size of the overall Navigation Square series of office buildings being developed in Cork city's south docks.

Also in terms of scale, it is only really dwarfed in Dublin by the deal struck by another tech giant, Facebook, which committed to 800,000 sq ft of offices at the former AIB Bank Centre in Ballsbridge in 2018.

Now, Microsoft-owned Linkedin is clearly ramping up its future office need for its EMEA HQ in Dublin, in a letting deal on a 25-year lease. The development, designed by Henry J Lyons Architects, will have a one-acre park, 120 car parking spaces, and 500 bike spaces.

IPUT Chief Executive Niall Gaffney said they were “proud to partner with LinkedIn, a global technology brand that shares our ambition to sustainably develop a new destination in Dublin’s central business district."

"This major development will be a key driver of long-term returns for our shareholders. We are committing €350 million to the development of the Wilton Park estate which, on completion, will have a value of over €750 million.”