AA keeps staff happy with major office refurbishment

AA Ireland, the insurance giant, has carried out a major refurbishment of its headquarters on South William Street in Dublin and made a long-term commitment to keep its 300-plus staff working in the city centre.

About 18 months ago the company, based in the city since 1910, embarked on a search for a more suitable single building to accommodate its fast-growing office staff.

A range of properties was considered but none fit the bill for a variety of reasons: the surrounding services, the transport links for a company that operates 24/7 and the scale of the refurbishment needed to meet their unique requirements.

When consulted on the options available, the consensus among the AA staff – which has a young age profile – was that they wanted to stay on South William Street, once the centre of the city’s rag trade.

This view was reinforced when the company set about recruiting tech specialists, dot.net programmers, app designers and social media specialists – experts that are not easy to find. South William Street with its good restaurants, cafes and bars, has made it easier for the company to recruit the skilled staff.

The AA has transformed its 2,322sq m (25,000sq ft) of office space over six floors – four of them in 20-21 South William Street and the other two at 61a, one of the street’s graceful Georgian buildings.

Complicated project

Conor Faughnan

, director of consumer affairs with the AA, said the project was hugely complicated in its delivery because all of the work had to be done in a “live” environment.

The refurbishment and building works had to be carried out without disrupting the service. Many of the AA’s products were regulated finance products so there was no room for error.

The project was put out to tender and the FKM Group was commissioned to provide a turnkey solution.

“The challenge was to completely rebuild two city centre buildings from the inside out without disrupting the business,” says Faughnan. “A bit like operating on a patient while he is running down the road – not easy.”

In total €3 million was spent on the renovation and refurbishment of the network and its IT structure which included the introduction of 380 PCs. More than 50km of cabling was laid down as part of the construction.

With more than 350,000 customers, the AA is the largest insurance intermediary and breakdown service provider in the country.

The investment in its headquarters secures more than 300 jobs in the heart of the city centre.