What Were Largest Office Deals In Q3?

/ 7th October 2021 /

Dublin’s suburbs have benefited most from a rebound in office space lettings, with almost 60% of all deals in the third quarter, out of the roughly 430,000 sq ft taken up in the capital.

The first quarter of this year yielded only 45,000 sq ft in take-up, the second showed a jump to 216,000 sq ft in the three months to June. For Q3, according to JLL Ireland, the figure will turn out close to 428,000 sq ft.

While that’s short of average quarterly volumes, 43 deals were closed at an average size of 8,300 sq ft, which JLL says is “a welcome recovery post-lockdown”.

Research lead Neill Gargan said: “The easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions during Q3 has allowed occupiers to begin strategising for the post-pandemic office environment, which has led to the increase in new take-up as employers and employees migrate to new working norms.

“Employees wish to opt for a three-day working week in the office as part of a hybrid model, according to the research. This demonstrates that the need for office space will remain as the global community adapts to a post-pandemic working life.

“There is over 900,000 sq ft reserved and we are forecasting that end of year take-up will surpass the 1m sq ft mark. This is a great achievement in a year where fit-outs could not take place for five months due to lockdowns.”

Gargan said that almost half a million square feet of offices were completed in the quarter.

“This is a significant volume of space to come available, and we forecast that a further 1.5m sq ft will be completed by Q1 2022, as the construction industry continues to complete projects which were delayed due to lockdown.”

Apart from taking 58% of all lettings in Q2, the suburbs also had the largest transactions. This was the Termini in Sandyford, let to BNP Paribas Bank at about 44,000 sq ft.

The second largest deal was in Cherrywood, also in the suburbs, with a letting at Building 10 to Accenture at almost 37,000 sq ft. The largest deal in the city centre was 29,770 sq ft, to DLA Piper at 40 Molesworth Street.