IDA to spend over €10m on new office fit-out

IDA Ireland, the State's inward investment agency, will spend more than €10 million on its new office fit-out after announcing plans earlier this year to move from its current Dublin headquarters.

After nearly 35 years at its Wilton Park headquarters, the State body will relocate to a newly developed premises on Upper Hatch Street in Dublin 2 – Three Park Place.

The IDA will rent six of the nine floors in the building with the other floors to be occupied by two other State companies under 25-year leases with rent at €60 per sq ft.

In a public tender the IDA said it estimated the proposed work would cost €10 million before VAT (value added tax). The work will comprise the fit-out of roughly 5,600sq m of the building for office accommodation. Open-plan spaces, cellular offices, meeting rooms, training rooms, a canteen area and storage area will all form part of the contract.

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While the main building works are completed, IDA is tendering on the basis that the fit-out will finish by the end of June 2019 to allow occupation in the third quarter of next year.

In its 2017 accounts the IDA said it carried forward a balance of €34.7 million having made a surplus before appropriations of €54.7 million. The vast majority of its income comes from Oireachtas grants and last year that grant increased 12.5 per cent to €174.8 million.

Public procurement

An IDA spokesman told The Irish Times that the organisation "cannot comment on any costs associated with the project, at this time, as we are currently at design stage and have just commenced a public procurement process for the appointment of a contractor for the delivery of our global HQ".

"As the project progresses, IDA will continue its endeavours to achieve economies of scale, cost savings and value for money aligned with the public procurement process whilst also ensuring it can secure a new headquarters that complements and underpins the winning of foreign direct investment and jobs for the economic benefit of Ireland. "

IDA's new headquarters, designed by architects BKD, has floors typically extending to 1,966sq m (21,000sq ft) and the move will put them beside client companies including Dropbox, Slack and Bently Systems.

The agency moves from a building owned by Irish property fund Iput located beside one of LinkedIn’s Irish offices. Iput is developing offices surrounding the IDA’s current headquarters but it is unclear as of yet what will become of the Wilton Park building.