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Dublin

14th Feb 2021

New office for 3,000 workers planned for St. Stephen’s Green

Rory Cashin

The developer of the site talks about going against the current mindset of remote working.

In an interview with The Irish Times, global real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson have confirmed that they have submitted an application for a campus office to be located at St. Stephen’s Green, which could potentially hold up to 3,000 workers.

The company have contacted Dublin City Council for permission to proceed with the demolition of the KPMG’s current premises on Harcourt Street, and then to build their new campus office site which would face out to St. Stephen’s Green on the south, Harcourt Street on the north, as well as the Iveagh Gardens, with the up-to-eight-storey building occupying 39,932sq m (429,824sq ft) of new office space.

This plan seems to go against the current mindset that the increase of remote working would see less need for office space in the city.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Kennedy Wilson’s chairman and chief executive Bill McMorrow had the following to say about the new building:

“I listened to all of that [talk of remote working] in 2000. When the tech bubble happened, what was going on in the tech world at that time, including the big accounting firms, I remember like yesterday. They were all talking about how they were going to all work remotely.

“And I think, the two social things that relate to office space that can’t be underestimated is the need for human contact. And the fact that it’s logistically difficult – it’s not easy to work at home when you’ve got other distractions.”

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