Certus to offload office space in Dublin, Limerick and Cork

Certus, the Irish loan servicing group, is to offload office space in Dublin, Limerick and Cork because of a fall off in client work. The move comes following a recent announcement that it would be seeking 195 redundancies from its near 600-strong workforce.

The company plans to close its offices in Belfast, Cork and Limerick and reduce its office space in Dublin.

The cutbacks follow the company's success in offloading a large proportion of the legacy loans originally negotiated by Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and Halifax. The loan book stood at €27.4 billion in 2010 but has since been reduced by more than half.

Dublin agents Brown Corrigan Chartered Surveyors are unlikely to have much difficulty in finding a replacement tenant for an entire floor of the distinctive office block at 124 St Stephen’s Green which is owned by the Doyle family of hotel fame. There is currently a scarcity of large office floor plates in the city centre.

The agents are quoting a rent of €500 per sq m (€46.45 per sq ft) for the fourth floor which extends to 1,519 sq m (16,351 sq ft) and includes five on-site car parking spaces. A new tenant will be able to avail of the existing reception and canteen facilities.

The layout includes a mixture of open plan, with 180 work stations, and individual meeting rooms. The building is directly opposite the Luas stop on St Stephen’s Green and only two minutes’ walk from the top of Grafton Street. The lease has around five years to run.

Joint agents

Brown Corrigan will be joined by agents

Murphy Gubbins

in seeking tenants for a six-storey office building developed by

Aidan Brooks

at the junction of Henry Street and Shannon Street in Limerick city centre. The fully furnished, high quality block has an overall floor area of 969 sq m (10,430 sq ft) but can be leased on a floor by floor basis, starting at 155 sq m (1,668 sq ft). The rent is likely to be in the region of €135 per sq m (€12.54 per sq ft). Here again, the lease will run until 2020.

In Cork, Brown Corrigan and Lisney will be quoting a similar rent for two floors of an office block at 2 George’s Quay which was recently upgraded and is among the best available in the city.

The flexible lease will include four on-site car parking spaces. The office space to be let can vary from 353 to 722 sq m (3,799/7,771 sq ft). The impressive fit out includes an entrance foyer, glazing with views over the river Lee, air conditioning, raised access floors and IT facilities.