Around the Block Engel & Volkers might sound like the latest in bathroom suites but, for the better informed, it's one of the biggest estate agency chains in Europe and it's coming our way.
The company plans to open its first two offices in Dublin before the end of the year and later on to have offices in Cork and other busy centres. E&V has over 160 offices across Germany and the rest of Europe, as well as the US, the Middle East, Asia and South Africa. Earlier this year it hit the UK. The company's interest in Ireland has obviously been triggered by the seemingly endless spending spree by Irish investors abroad as well as what it calls the "feel good" economy at home and the young population.
Over the coming months it will be looking for franchise partners, even though most Irish agencies with any kind of turnover have already lined up with home grown franchise operators. They may well pick up some disenchanted agents when their present contracts run out, or they could try buying out an entire estate agency chain. Could Pat Gunne make a second killing within a matter of months?
E&V will be hoping to make a breakthrough, not only in the buoyant residential market, but also in the commercial sphere where the leading agents are closely marking each other for what is the most lucrative end of the property game. The German company has the advantage of a vast client base that Irish agents would like to get a look at.
The arrival of E&V is timely with an ever-increasing number of young graduates looking to get into the commercial side of the business which produces better bonuses. Grainne Hollywood, one of the more high profile players, recently moved from the Dublin Docklands Authority to join Pat McCormack's new estate agency, which has yet to be named, while Lisney has just lost one of its young negotiators, Aisling O'Buachalla, to Jones Lang where she will learn the commercial game. Expect to see more moves in this direction as the young ones chase the action - and the money.
Talks by famous architects are always a big draw for fellow practitioners as they are keen for insights into how others design, and they like gossip. No wonder, then, that Daniel Libeskind's talk in the National College of Ireland tonight for members of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and the Royal Town Planning Institute is oversubscribed. The architect has achieved world fame, despite his first building being completed just seven years ago when he was 52: which isn't unusual in architecture. He has also designed the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin's docklands (due to go on site next year) and it is the Dublin Docklands Development Authority which is organising tonight's talk. Its "Speakers Series" should see about two architects a year coming to Dublin, and in November it is David Chipperfield's turn. Libeskind's lecture, "Breaking Ground", will be a chance to promote his new book of the same name.
