The background to the IMB’s project is that we approached the owners of three adjoining blocks in the Earlsfort Centre several years ago and recommended that they consider a two-storey rooftop extension. We anticipated that Dublin City Council were going to impose height restrictions on buildings in many parts of the Central Business District, and considered that, in terms of maximizing asset value, the time was opportune for the building owners to lay down Planning Permissions. We obtained Permission for the three blocks, and have just completed the building for the Irish Medicines Board. The project delivers a gross internal floor area of 827 Sq. M.: a significant ‘gain’ as there were effectively no site acquisition costs.

As the building dated from the mid-eighties, many of the services installations, particularly the lifts, were nearing the end of their service lives in any case, so the costs of extending the lift shafts etc. upwards in lightweight construction came at an opportune time.

We are of the opinion that many buildings in the Central Business District would benefit from an appraisal of this type and, notwithstanding the fact that Dublin City Council’s current Development Plan generally limits building heights to 28.00 metres above adjacent ground level, there is still significant scope to maximize the development potential of these buildings. Given the primary location of many such buildings, together with a car-parking ratio that will simply not be achievable in the future because of revised Development Plan standards, this makes these kind of developments even more attractive.

We have been advising the Irish Medicines Board for several years and had previously completed a floor by floor refurbishment & upgrade of their building. During the refurbishment, the building was ‘maintained live’ at all times, with groups of staff being relocated to a decant space in rotation.