While 2022 is looking to be one of the biggest years for new office completion, since the global financial crisis with some 240,000sq m (2,583,339sq ft) due for completion in Dublin, a recovery in average rents is still some way off as corporate occupiers weigh up their requirements in a post-pandemic world. This is according to a new report by property consultants BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland
I’m amazed, the last 2-3 years, at the level of office building in Dublin. Even during the pandemic the past 2 years, a number of high profile office blocks were completed in and around the Dublin 2 and Dublin 4 areas. During the same time, companies of all sizes, were downsizing their office requirements for staff.
During 2020 and 2021, a number of huge employers stated they were downscaling in parts, that office that we knew of: ‘Monday to Friday 9 to 5’. In 2020 a huge employer ‘State Street’ announced it “will see fewer people working in its IFSC offices as is reconfigures its office footprint”. This comes after similar announcements from Google which pulled the plug on a new office building lease and Microsoft predicting a permanent office exodus and others and the general consensus is that most multinationals and in general most businesses, large and small, will be reducing their office requirements if not getting ride of their office altogether.
The vast majority of professional employees want and expect reduced hours in the office and increased working from home opportunities. Most employers now seem to acknowledge this, led by multinational firms. For employers it makes sense reducing physical office space and for employees it means less time commuting. Also it makes sense, as employees don’t have to buy or rent in Dublin and can opt for cheaper housing options outside Dublin.