Business Post 7Property PlusJune 7, 2020

Commercial

28 Hanover Dock, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2.

Asking Price €1,700,000

01 677 7100

www.owenreilly.ie

sales@owenreilly.ie

A stunningly unique, three-bedroom, duplex penthouse with amazing views over

Grand Canal Dock towards the Dublin Mountains.

Floor area 132 Sq. M.

• Redesigned and rebuilt interior

• Stunning views over Grand Canal Dock with south facing aspect

• Bulthaup kitchen with Gaggenau appliances

• Lutron smart-home system

• Engineered flooring by Ebony & Co.

• Bespoke staircase by Signature Stairs

• Italian terrazzo in the bathrooms

• Under-floor heating and air conditioning

• 90 sq.m. of outdoor space

• Two car parking spaces

Working from home has its benefits, but so does the office – it’s where I met my wife.

The recent decision by Twitter to allow employees (whose jobs permit it) to work from home indefinitely has raised questions about the future of the post-Covid-19 office market.

Some commentators are suggesting that companies will require less space, with employees choosing to work for home more often, or even full time. Others are adamant that employers will need more space to allow for so-cial distancing, and that the days of the open plan office are numbered.

Taking both of these factors into account, perhaps the two will balance out, and companies will need the ex-act amount of space that they already had pre-Covid-19.

For most employers – and their em-ployees – the office is a place to con-gregate, collaborate, manage, super-vise, socialise and, most importantly, to do work before it’s time to go home and unwind.

For some, especially younger gen-erations that come from all over the world to work in Dublin’s thriving tech sector, the office is more like a univer-sity campus than a workplace, where they can eat, exercise, work, learn, so-cialise, unwind – and the only reason to go home is to sleep.

The lockdown has raised a lot of questions about our work-life balanc-es. For me, and many others, spending

more time with family has been one of the few positive impacts of it. And no matter where you sit on the fence of this debate, one of the clear advantages of working from home is not having to commute.

However, there are drawbacks. For example, your home is your office – or your office is your home – making it more difficult to call time on the work day. Moreover, the lack of interaction with people in a physical setting, the Groundhog Day effect of the same routine day in, day out – and even a lack of change in scenery – will undoubtedly have an impact on our mental wellbeing.

When it is safe to do so, I intend to go back to the office, as I miss the dai-ly interaction and collaboration with colleagues.

For many employees, returning to the office in the near term will not be an option if they have an underlying health issue, are taking care of chil-dren, live with someone in an at-risk group, or if they are uncomfortable using public transport.

Many companies are choosing not to open until later in the year – or even next year in some cases – when, hopefully, social distancing require-ments will be more relaxed. But it is becoming apparent that workplaces will not return to normal until there is a vaccine for Covid-19.

For the moment, it’s too early to predict whether companies will need more or less space in the future, and no two company requirements will be the same, but there are many knowns.

For example, the majority of office-based employees can’t work from their homes full time, hot-desk-ing is unlikely to be a popular solution in the medium term, and it is difficult to manage people when they work re-motely all the time – one Zoom meet-ing a day is enough.

While it might appear that moving a workforce to the home will save on a company’s overheads, this is not the case. Each employee will require a computer and monitor – prefera-bly double screens – in addition to a phone, ergonomically designed desk and chair, and perhaps even a printer,

in addition to the usual stationery you would find in the workplace.

This equipment needs to be main-tained and replaced over time, further adding to costs. There is also the issue of space. What if someone lives in a small apartment and shares with a friend or partner – where will they work? Will an employer need to subsi-dise the cost of larger living spaces for employees?

And one of the most important points, which has been generally over-looked in this debate, is security. Res-idential wifi and home network fire-walls are no match for their corporate

equivalent – leaving companies of all sizes at risk of security breaches which could have devastating effects.

As we slowly migrate back to the of-fice in the coming weeks and months, it’s important that employers take time to review their office space re-quirements. Any knee-jerk decision to move to full-time remote working could have adverse effects in the long-term, and so it’s important that this debate continues.

Michael Healy is a director at Savills Ireland, which helps client companies to find and secure office space

Home comforts can’t be on a full-time basis

Michael Healy

Working from home five days a week is a tempting prospect, but it simply won’t be fully feasible for most employees

For most employers – and their employees – the office is a place to congregate, collaborate, manage, supervise, socialise and, most importantly, to do work before it’s time to go home and unwind

Working from home may be the preferred option at the moment, but the office can have benefits such as collaboration, socialising and romance

BY TINA-MARIE O’NEILL

Cork and Lon-don-based property development com-pany BMOR recent-

ly announced its intention to lodge plans for a mixed-use development, supporting the regeneration of Cork city’s most historic street.

The proposed €25 million mixed-use scheme on North Main Street comprises a 280-bed student accommodation facility and two new retail units boasting impressive amenities, including a gym, laundry facilities, a study, a library, communal working areas and a landscaped ex-ternal courtyard.

Key features of the propos-al include the planned res-toration of Coleman’s Lane which, since medieval times, has provided direct access be-tween North Main Street and Grattan Street, and the de-velopment of a pocket park, which will be accessible to the general public.

Located in the historic heart of the city, the proposed scheme is likely to serve as a key contributor to the much-needed regeneration of North Main Street.

“As a Cork native, it gives me great pleasure and pride to present our am-

bitious plans for Cork city. The scheme, designed by O’Mahony Pike Architects, balances the rich heritage of North Main Street with sleek, innovative, and contempo-rary design. We believe this project will help to kick-start the exciting redevelopment

plans envisaged for this part of the city,” said Paul Irwin, director at BMOR.

“Despite all that has trans-pired with the Covid-19 pan-demic, we at BMOR have continued to forge ahead with this and other projects in the Cork area. We are confident that this project will not only breathe new life into one of the city’s most historic areas, but that the increased footfall generated as a result of the development will also bene-fit the existing neighbouring businesses and encourage an influx of new business to North Main Street and its surrounding areas.

“We also envisage that this project will reignite the appe-tite of up-and-coming work-ing professionals to consider city centre living in Cork.

“With the assistance of Cork City Council, which has been very supportive of this regeneration initiative since it was initially presented to them, we fully intend to pro-ceed promptly with this ven-

ture upon receipt of planning permission.”

The developer is finalising negotiations with several Cork-based building con-tractors to undertake the construction of this project, which is expected to gener-ate in the region of 150 con-struction jobs. Following the completion of the North Main Street development, a further 30 permanent jobs will also be created.

As well as opening a new office on the South Mall, BMOR has underlined its goal of helping to regenerate Cork city and county by embarking on a number of other devel-opments in the area.

These developments form part of BMOR’s ambitious plans to grow its Irish port-folio, the first of which is a 43-house residential devel-opment in Killeens in Cork, where construction will com-mence once the coronavirus lockdown is lifted.

For more information, see bmor.co.uk.

Cork street regeneration may be fuelled by mixed-use student and retail scheme

A mixed-use development is proposed for North Main Street in the historic heart of Cork city

BY TINA-MARIE O’NEILL

Click Offices, an office brokerage in Dublin, is offering six months of commission-free

leads for any company which uses its new operator app, to help businesses get back on their feet following the global pandemic.

“It comes as no surprise that businesses have been hit hard by the Covid-19 lockdowns,” Shane Duffy, Click Offices’ managing director, said.

“As companies face new challenges, businesses close and premises are vacated, ev-eryone from the employees to the landlord is feeling the strain.”

Since June 1, Click Offices is also offering any building operator who uses the new app and uploads videos and pictures of their available of-fices, six months of commis-sion-free leads.

The app allows operators to directly manage their build-ing listing on the Click Offices website. According to Duffy, it is a unique app as nothing else

like it currently exists for the Irish market. “Click Offices is the first broker to allow oper-ators to upload videos of live availability and virtual tours of their offices,” he said.

“The app enables users to add and make edits to cen-tres and offices; review leads; respond to client viewing re-

quests; accept offers on offic-es; and upload office videos and images.

“We have carefully been creating this app for the last year and feel that now is the perfect time to launch. This is a time for us all to pull together and work as a team to thrive after lockdown. Nothing like it currently exists for the Irish market and we are so excited to be the first to bring it to our shores. The future is virtual.”

In recent times, the demand for virtual viewings has been steadily growing. In a socially distant world, virtual viewings make sense for any company wishing to sprint out of the gates once lockdown is over.

The app is available on An-droid and IOS platforms, just search for clickoffices. It is easy to use and there is a sim-ple ‘how-to’ video explaining its features.

Click Offices has been find-ing office space for clients since 2015. Based in Dublin, the firm specialises in office space in Ireland and Britain. For more details, visit click-offices.com.

Commission-free offer a boost to firms using new Click Offices app

The Click Offices app allows users upload office videos and images