Dublin City Council’s move to former DIT campus will cost €581m
The price tag attached to moving Dublin City Council’s (DCC) headquarters to Camden Yard is set to come in around €581m, according to internal council documents.
In a presentation given to councillors in recent days, the authority’s executive branch laid out the broad strokes of its planned move from its existing Wood Quay offices to a former DIT campus site on Kevin Street, which it aims to complete by 2029.
Understood to be driven primarily by DCC’s chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, the move is set to bring the council’s more-than 6,000 staff under a new roof, and create opportunities for hundreds of new homes.
The authority estimates the Camden Yard site, which has been partially built but was abandoned several years ago, will cost €581m to develop, including €90m for the purchase of the site.
The office development will cost €440m, while the housing element would cost €141m.
Up to 14 storeys in height, the six-block scheme will have space for up to 4,000 staff – 2,800 of which will be reserved for the council, with the remainder to be sublet – and around 300 apartments.
DCC’s move also frees up their existing Wood Quay site, with proposals outlined to knock the Civic Offices and replace them with a 530-apartment housing scheme across four blocks.
Three of the blocks are to be made up of cost-rental units, with the fourth dedicated to social housing.
Mr Shakespeare told councillors that affordable purchase units would also be explored for this site as plans evolve.
The impetus for the move – the most significant in the council’s history – is the need to improve the energy efficiency of DCC’s offices, which were completed in 1994 after years of truncated construction.
Depending on whether the refurbishment is carried out on a phased basis or in one fell swoop, the cost of upgrading Wood Quay is now estimated at between €487m and €504m, council staff say.
Despite this significant jump from the previously mooted €350m to €400m figure, DCC has not released the analysis upon which these estimates are based.
Speaking to the Irish Independent in recent weeks, Mr Shakespeare said the report would be made accessible once complete, but it continues to be kept under wraps.
It’s understood councillors can access the document, but only within the bounds of the Civic Offices.
On whether demolishing Wood Quay and moving to Camden Yard is the most environmental approach, Mr Shakespeare said the Kevin Street site was “going to be built anyway”.
"And with modern material recovery methods, it’s not like the old days when you just knock a building and put it into lorries and take it to a landfill. No, it’s separated out, it’s recycled material,” he said.
The transaction is expected to be agreed shortly, with Mr Shakespeare indicating that a 10pc deposit on the site would have to be put down by the end of this month if it is to proceed.
"And then you’d complete probably two months later, all going well,” he added.
DCC hopes to secure ministerial approval to tender for developers for the site by the end of the year, with two years of construction to follow. It is aiming to occupy the new offices by 2029.