Irish Water locates headquarters in Talbot Street office

Irish Water, the newly formed State agency, is to set up its first HQ in Colville House, a modern office block at Talbot Street, Dublin 1, which was vacated by Bank of Ireland as part of its retrenchment programme over two years ago.

The new tenant will be paying a rent of €188 per sq m (€17.50 per sq ft) for the 5,109sq m (55,000 sq ft) block under a sub-letting from the bank which first moved into the building in about 2000 and has a break option in March, 2016. The bank is understood to be paying a rent of about €430 per sq m (€40 per sq ft) for Colville House which was developed by businessmen Pat and Joe Linders. Irish Water, a subsidiary of Bord Gáis Éireann (BGE), is currently based at the former BGE offices on Foley Street as well as in temporary offices in the IFSC since the company was launched.

It is expected to use the short-term lease to allow it find a suitable headquarters with an overall floor area of about 9,290 sq m (100,000 sq ft).

BGE’s Dublin HQ is at Warrington Quay overlooking the Grand Canal in D2. Fergal Burke of GVA Donal O’Buachalla advised Irish Water and Roland O’Connell of Savills acted for the bank.