The Dublin office market bulletin from CB Richard Ellis for the first three months of this year said demand is at an all-time high in Dublin, with letting activity up 31 per cent yearon-year. Market drivers include local and overseas occupiers, who continue to make expansion and relocation decisions against a positive economic backdrop.

The annual Jones Lang LaSalle Dublin office market report described levels of take-up as being at their highest for 15 years and pointed to an annual rise of 26 per cent in rents for prime city centre offices.

"It was a very positive year by any standards with significant advances on all fronts, " said Dr Clare Eriksson, head of research. "The strength of the market was demonstrated by the fact that the vacancy rates continued to decline in spite of the increase in completions."

Savills Hamilton Osborne King's spring 2007 Dublin office market report stated that the outlook for 2007 is for one of strong tenant demand, rising rents and continued strong levels of construction.

Investment in service Glandore Business Centres recently invested EUR 30 million in purchasing, renovating and furnishing the landmark Fitzwilliam Hall building to provide companies of all sizes with high quality, fully furnished office space, meeting rooms and conferencing facilities in the heart of Dublin's city centre.

Fitzwilliam Hall, which is located at the entrance to Fitzwilliam Place, is already used by more than 50 companies from start-ups and SMEs to larger companies.

According to Michael Kelly of Glandore Business Centres, such organisations increasingly value the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of quality serviced office space.

"Compared to the traditional office set up, we offer low entry and exit costs and flexibility when it comes to a company changing their space requirements - and they are not tied to lengthy leases."

As part of the Fitzwilliam Hall renovation, Glandore Business Centres has invested more than one million euro in the latest IT facilities and infrastructure, including high-end data centres, unlimited and dedicated Internet bandwidth, IP telephony, remote access via virtual private network and in-house IT support.

Additional services include virtual office facilities, mail and messaging handling, reception services and office support, while fully equipped training, meeting and conference suites ranging from 10 to 100 square metres, which can accommodate up to 70 people, are available to hire.

Northpoint of"ce space moves fast The level of demand for high quality office space all over the country is further evidenced by the interest DTZ Sherry FitzGerald has reported in an office/retail development at Northpoint, Tuam Road, Galway The development, which has exceptional frontage onto the main Galway - Sligo N17 Road with excellent accessibility from the Tuam Road, is completed to a very high standard. It comprises of two floors of retail and two levels of office accommodation, together with 500 surface and basement car parking spaces, 130 of which are surface spaces.

Northpoint has the significant advantage of being able to provide three car spaces per 1,000 square feet of office accommodation acquired.

It is worth noting that take up activity in the Galway office market has strengthened during the first half of 2007 with strong demand for both city centre and out of town accommodation. Northpoint has a total of 5,574 square metres of office accommodation, with 60 per cent already reserved.

The remainder of this office space is available in unit sizes from approximately 200 square metres upwards and is ready immediately for tenants fit out.

For further information contact Aidan Gavin or Patricia Hassett at DTZ Sherry FitzGerald.