Goodman in €100m Dublin office plan

BEEF baron Larry Goodman is seeking to capitalise on the buoyant Dublin office market with plans for a €100m office development in the heart of the capital. This follows plans being lodged with Dublin City Council for the redevelopment of the Goodman-owned Setanta Centre on Dublin’s Nassau Street facing on to Trinity College.

The new eight-storey office block plan includes a swimming pool and according to a consultants’ report lodged with the application, the development will create at its peak 430 construction jobs.

The consultants state that once the €100m development is complete, it should be able to offer employment to over 1,600 people. The economic report, prepared by KSN Construction Consultants, estimates that the project will create a gross value-added impact of €247m on an annual basis. The Setanta Centre — which was built in the mid-1970s — houses the Kilkenny Design centre store and that enterprise is to remain untouched in the redevelopment of the centre.

In spite of its prime location, documents lodged with the application state most of the office space in the existing eight-storey structure to be demolished “is currently unoccupied due to the unsuitable conditions of the floor plates, floor to ceiling heights and circulation inefficiencies”. The documents state that the majority of the office space at the existing buildings has been vacant since 2013 “with no uptake or interest”. A planning report states that the existing buildings “have reached the end of their useful life and are no longer fit for purpose”