Lack of city centre office space hurting job creation
Large office buildings are urgently required to meet demand in Galway City Centre, which continues to have the lowest rate of vacant office space in the country.
According to a report on the country’s office sector from Cushman & Wakefield (the commercial arm of Sherry Fitzgerald), large multinationals continue to enquire about Galway City, but there is a lack of good-quality, suitable accommodation.
The report echoes calls made by the IDA for more suitable office accommodation, describing it as “essential” for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
The new report shows there is a vacancy rate of 8% in Galway’s office market – compared to 17.6% in Limerick; 12.2% in Dublin and 11.5% in Cork. Galway is also the only city where no new office accommodation is under construction.
“The Galway office market remains challenged by the ongoing supply/demand imbalance. Take-up continues to be hampered by an acute shortage of good quality office space available to meet market requirements.
“2016 saw ongoing enquiries from FDI tenants for office accommodation in Galway, however, the type of good quality, suitable accommodation required remains scarce.
“In addition, no new speculative developments in the city centre exist in the short-term. This is placing further upward pressure on prime city centre rents,” the report reads.
It also suggests that there is room for urgent ‘speculative’ builds, as some landlords are retrofitting older buildings at the moment – such as the Hynes Building on St Augustine Street, which is being modernised for new tenants MetLife.
“It is clear that newly-developed office accommodation is required in Galway to aid economic growth and support the demand for large, modern office floor plates.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.