Taking stock of new offices outside Dublin

THERE has been considerable focus recently on the volume of new office stock coming on stream in Dublin, both in terms of the number of schemes under construction and the volume of stock that could potentially be delivered if all schemes in the planning process materialise.

There has been very little mention of office delivery outside of Dublin although we are now beginning to see signs of new office development being planned in cities such as Limerick, Galway and Cork, which is welcome.

There has been considerable planning activity in some of the regional cities of late, although with rental values still lagging behind those prevailing in the capital by a considerable margin, the reality is that some of these provincial office schemes won’t be viable to develop in the short to medium term and in most cases will require pre-lettings in order to attract development funding. With evidence of good demand for modern office accommodation in the Cork region and office rents in the city trending upwards, we are likely to see more cranes emerging on the landscape over the next few years.