First tenants moving into Spencer Dock over Easter

OfficesThe €6 billion Spencer Dock scheme - between the Point and the IFSC - will see its first major tenant move in over the weekend, writes Jack Fagan

Almost a decade after it was first conceived, Spencer Dock will finally be unveiled this weekend when anchor tenants PricewaterhouseCoopers move into the first phase of the office development in the north Dublin docklands.

The entire scheme is the largest and most ambitious urban development in the State's history and, when completed, will include more than 557,418sq m (6 million sq ft) of buildings - most of them offices - with an estimated end value of almost €6 billion.

A consortium led by Treasury Holdings is also building around 3,000 apartments, a hotel, shopping and leisure facilities, as well as a national conference centre on the 51-acre site located between the IFSC and the Point Depot.

John Bruder, chief operating officer of Treasury Holdings, said yesterday that about 2,000 people would be moving in to Spencer Dock in a "big bang" over the Easter weekend.

PwC will occupy 20,438sq m (220,000sq ft) of office space in three buildings, one of which will look over the quays. Another block of 7,432sq m (80,000sq ft) is also ready for the Belgian financial services provider Fortis. And work is due to be completed by year end on another block of 11,148sq m (120,000sq ft) which has already attracted interest from a range of international and Irish companies, according to Declan O'Reilly of agent HT Meagher O'Reilly.

The next block will have a floor area of 23,225sq m (250,000sq ft), having been initially geared to meet the needs of Anglo-Irish Bank.

In the event, the bank decided to settle for an office scheme on the nearby Brooks Thomas site, which is the subject of a new planning application by developer Liam Carroll.

Although the letting arrangement with PwC was agreed three years ago, Treasury succeeded in securing a rent of €548 per sq m (€51 per sq ft) in return for a package of incentives that included a rent-free period.

Treasury is also to take responsibility for PwC's lease of Gardiner House at Wilton Place. The plan is to refurbish the 7,473sq m (80,000sq ft) building before attempting to assign the lease which has another 18 years to run. Treasury has already agreed to assign PwC's lease of another building at George's Quay to Ulster Bank. With PwC and Fortis due to settle in quickly at Spencer Dock, attention will then turn to the first 600 apartments which are due to be completed in batches in the run up to Christmas.