KPMG narrows search for new Dublin HQ down to three locations

KPMG has narrowed its search for a new Dublin headquarters down to three potential locations in the city centre.

Following the receipt of proposals from six of the country's foremost developers, the Big Four accounting and advisory firm has refined its deliberations to consider schemes being delivered by Hibernia Reit, the Kenny family's Clancourt Group, and Shane Whelan's Westridge Real Estate respectively.

KPMG currently occupies two buildings in Dublin city centre, one at Stokes Place on Harcourt Street, and another in the IFSC, but is looking to accommodate its entire complement of 2,500 office-based workers under one roof following the expiration of its existing leases in 2026.

In the case of Hibernia Reit, its Harcourt Square scheme will comprise a 31,866sq m (343,000sq ft) development on the site of the current Dublin regional Garda headquarters on Harcourt Street.

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The Clancourt Group meanwhile is vying to secure KPMG as the tenant for the 36,845sq m (396,596sq ft) of offices it intends to develop on a site bounded by Charlemont Street and Harcourt Road. KPMG already occupies some 1,858sq m (20,000sq ft) of office space at Clancourt’s Park Place scheme on Hatch Street. The firm entered into a 10-year lease on the first and second floors of Two Park Place in 2019.

Developer Shane Whelan’s Westridge Real Estate for its part is looking for KPMG to locate its operations within the 53,110sq m (571,671sq ft) of office space his company, Westridge Real Estate, intends to deliver as part of its redevelopment of the former DIT Kevin Street campus.

Original shortlist

While KPMG's original shortlist had also included proposals from Johnny Ronan's Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE), US real estate firm Kennedy Wilson, and a company controlled by the family of businessman, Larry Goodman, these are no longer being considered as part of the process.

RGRE had offered the 27,891sq m (300,216sq ft) of office space it is developing at its Waterfront South Central development in the city's north docklands for KPMG's consideration while Kennedy Wilson had proposed that the firm locate its new headquarters within the office-led campus it intends to develop on a site bounded by the south side of St Stephen's Green, the northern end of Harcourt Street and the Iveagh Gardens. The proposed campus involves the demolition of KPMG's current Harcourt Street premises and its replacement as part of an overall plan to deliver 39,932sq m (429,824sq ft) of office space.

‘Uncertainty’

The Goodman family's Parma Properties 1971 ULC meanwhile notified KPMG at an early stage of its decision to withdraw its proposal from the selection process, citing what it described as "uncertainty around the deliverability of the development within the tight deadlines specified by KPMG and potential litigation relating to the [Setanta Centre] site."

Parma Properties is pressing ahead, however, with plans to construct a 406,000sq ft head office building on the Setanta Centre site, which it says will be “in accordance with the highest environmental standards and consistent with its architectural location”.