Burlington Road rent set at €55psf

An artist's impression of the Vertium building which will open next year

Peter Flanagan

Savills and Knight Frank have been tasked with finding a tenant for a new office block on Burlington Road when it opens next year.

The "Vertium" building will have about 172,000 sq ft of space - enough to accommodate close to 2,000 workers.

The project, which is backed by UK firm U+I, Germany's Union Investments and Ireland's Ronan Group, is seen as one of the first of the new wave of offices that are forecast to open from the start of 2017 onwards.

It seems the group have made the first move to secure a tenant amid fears that office rents may start to slide from 2018 onwards. While there is a severe shortage of suitable office space in the Dublin market at present - rents have been soaring as a result - that pressure may dissapate from 2018 onwards as a glut of large office blocks are scheduled to come on stream around then,

The property is being marketed at a rent of €55 per sq ft, That is close to average levels in the Dublin market but is some way off the rate that some tenants have signed on for in recent months.

Aircraft leasing firm AerCap has agreed to pay €60 per sq ft for space in the LXV building on St Stephen's Green in the city centre, while other firms have paid even more elsewhere.

According to Savills' Roland O'Connell and Knight Frank's Declan O'Reilly, "it has been well documented that there is simply not enough office space to meet the demand of occupiers in Dublin's central business district.

"Major new office schemes such as the Vertium building are crucial in ensuring Dublin remains a competitive city when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment.

"The level of interest, best expressed by occupiers already, is very encouraging, prompted by the fact that there is very little new stock that can be delivered within the next 15 to 18 months in Dublin," they added.

It will be interesting to see who they finally secure as the anchor tenant for the property.

There is no doubt that the Vertium building will be seen as a very attractive bet for a firm looking to expand or move premises. It would seem that the developers of Vertium have first move advantage in a fast changing market.