51 minute read
Keen on Green
InBUSINESSnBUSINESS
Former Munster and Ireland International Niamh Briggs
KICKING FORWARD WITH SOLAR PLANS
Munster Rugby is seeking planning permission for a 400kW peak solar installation at Musgrave Park in Cork as part of a 10-year partnership with Pinergy. Last November, Munster Rugby became one of a number of signatories to the Sports for Climate Action Framework, which is run by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. e club has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2040. Pinergy already supplies 100% renewable energy to Munster’s omond Park and Musgrave Park. “ is solar photovoltaic project is a signi cant milestone on our sustainability journey as we look to become one of the most sustainable clubs in world rugby,” said Ian Flanagan, Munster Rugby Chief Executive O cer.
GREEN TALK
Energy transmission imperative
A fully-connected, pan-European energy transmission system could reduce energy costs by 32% compared to a ‘businessas-usual’ approach, according to a study by University College Dublin’s (UCD) Energy Institute and commissioned by SuperNode – the tech development company founded by Eddie O’Connor in 2018. The study evaluated the capabilities of Europe’s transmission system based on the ‘SuperNode Energy Scenario for Europe 2050’. It found that removing the restrictions on power flows would allow the location of renewable generation to be optimised – which would significantly reduce the total installed capacity. “The existing transmission system is not fit for purpose for Europe’s energy future,” said Prof Andrew Keane, Director, UCD Energy Institute. “The imperative to keep the lights on and the requirements of the energy transition make it clear that a more advanced approach to transmission is required.”
Prof Andrew Keane, Director, UCD Energy Institute
HP Inc has introduced an initiative in Ireland called HP Amplify Impact as part of its goal to become “the most sustainable and just technology company by 2030”. Launched a year ago in California, it’s an assessment, resource and training programme, which provides partners with the opportunity to join HP in its e orts to generate meaningful impact on climate action, human rights and digital equity.
Next-generation
Collaboration
Latest developments among multinationals, SMEs, start-ups and academia highlight that Ireland continues to be a hotbed for research, development and innovation of global relevance.
Akey feature of meaningful foreign direct investment (FDI) is when multinational operations become embedded in a location, particularly through dedicated research and development (R&D) activity. This is something which has been evident in Ireland for years now and the trend is continuing in 2022.
CEO of IDA Ireland Martin Shanahan noted recently that of the 249 investments made in 2021, 104 were from new-name investors coming to Ireland for the first time and that this, along with a significant investment in R&D, demonstrates “a level of future-proofing of FDI”.
One of the most significant announcements this year was from semiconductor company Analog Devices, which is to invest €100m over the next three years in ADI Catalyst. Located at its campus in the Raheen Business Park in Limerick, ADI Catalyst is a state-of-the-art, 100,000 sq ft, custombuilt facility for innovation and collaboration. It is essentially a collaboration accelerator where ecosystems of Analog Devices customers, business partners and suppliers engage with ADI to rapidly develop industry-leading solutions.
“ADI is our latest investment in the future of innovation, not just in Ireland or Europe, but globally. It provides the ideal environment for experts in their fields to connect, collaborate, test and pilot new technologies, business models and ecosystems,” said Vincent Roche, President and CEO of Analog Devices. “Opening ADI Catalyst enables us to share ideas, capabilities and resources with teams in Europe and around the world for the greater good.”
The 250 jobs that will be created with this investment will primarily focus on the development of software-enabled solutions and artificial intelligence (AI) innovations in areas such as Industry 4.0, sustainable energy, automotive electrification and next-generation connectivity.
Vince Roche, President and Chief Executive Officer at Analog Devices
For example, one of Catalyst’s projects at the moment is focused on supporting the migration of healthcare from a mass-market approach to one of customised treatment and therapies. ADI is working closely with its customers and their wider ecosystem to create modular manufacturing systems that enable the rapid changeover of production lines needed for personalised treatments.
PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS
Also in the healthcare space, global player Medtronic recently announced it is to support research into ventilator supply chains and pandemic preparedness in partnership with Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Insight Research Centre for Data Analytics. is critical project is led by Insight and the global health team in the School of Medicine and School of Nursing at NUI Galway.
One of the largest healthcare technology companies in the world, Medtronic rapidly multiplied its production of ventilators at its facility in Galway to meet global demand during the pandemic. e company released full speci cations of one of its ventilator designs in a bid to overcome global shortages. e new collaborative project will analyse the performance of ventilator supply chains over the past two years and develop tools to enhance supply chain resilience for health emergencies to come. It involves a €300,000 investment by Medtronic. “Events of the past two years have demonstrated the absolute necessity for investing in projects like this to ensure that we are prepared for future pandemics,” said Prof Noel O’Connor, CEO of Insight.
Fidelity Investments is another multinational strengthening its Irish research capability through investing in collaborations with Insight. e centre’s researchers are working on three separate Fidelity projects in sites at NUI Galway and Dublin City University focusing on knowledge graphs, natural language inference and computer vision.
As Ireland is the eighth-largest exporter of nancial services in the world, R&D collaborations serve to strengthen the relationship between Ireland and the global companies that work here.
EXCELLENT ECOSYSTEM
“ e ecosystem in Ireland provides a unique opportunity for mutually bene cial collaboration between business and academic centres such as Insight. e combination of business and research expertise is truly symbiotic in surfacing progressive, applied opportunities,” said Lorna Martyn, Fidelity Investments Ireland’s Senior Vice President and Head of Technology.
INDIGENOUS ACTIVITY
At the end of March, indigenous telecoms and nancial services R&D company Zinkworks announced the establishment of a so ware engineering hub in the CoLab facility on the Letterkenny Institute of Technology campus in Co Donegal.
Founded in 2018, Zinkworks employs 180 people at its head o ce in Athlone, Co Westmeath. Its focus is primarily in telecommunications R&D, particularly on 5G, which involves working with leading clients and delivering its own portfolio of products to market. e Letterkenny hub will provide so ware development services, including 5G network consulting, 5G network deployment, telecommunications R&D and ICT consultancy. It will create 50 new jobs over the next 18 months. ere is plenty of innovation activity of global interest going on in the Irish start-up community as well. For example, Healthtech start-up xWave Technologies is to start an innovation project with CeADAR, Ireland’s Centre for Applied AI at University College Dublin.
Funded through the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership Programme, the project will research the use of AI to predict the best medical diagnostic test for a patient based on a range of input data.
“It is estimated that 30% of the world’s data is being generated by healthcare alone. xWave and CeADAR have identi ed a way to use AI and machine learning to unlock some of this data to ensure that patients are getting referred for the best test for them,” said Mitchell O’Gorman, CEO, xWave Technologies.
“ is research will support the development of the next generation of clinical decision support systems, delivering hyperpersonalised recommendations to achieve xWave’s mission of ensuring that patients get the best test rst.”
Ricardo Simon Carbajo, Head of Innovation and Development, CeADAR, Leo Clancy, CEO, Enterprise Ireland and Mitchell O’Gorman, CEO, xWave Technologies
Making the most of the RDTC
The R&D tax credit is a valuable tax-based incentive that’s designed to encourage investment in R&D by SMEs and larger companies alike. KPMG’s Ken Hardy explains what SMEs can do to get the most out of it and how it could be improved.
R&D drives significant economic growth in the Irish economy, not only in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices sectors, but also in ICT, heavy and light engineering, food, drink and other related areas. As a result, it’s critical for companies conducting R&D to be aware of the valuable R&D Tax Credits (RDTC) and claim what they are entitled, to support further growth and potential in their business.
The Irish RDTC plays a vital role in providing SMEs with additional funding for their R&D activities. It provides companies with up to 25% of their R&D expenditure as a tax credit or as cash (subject to certain conditions being met). This 25% credit is made available in addition to the 12.5% corporation tax which currently exists for all companies operating in Ireland. In essence, companies may be entitled to a net subsidy of 37.5% (ie 12.5% corporation tax deduction + 25% R&D tax credit).
‘VALLEY OF DEATH’ The process whereby an innovative idea is translated into a profitable endeavour is often a lengthy and challenging process. It requires a significant investment in personnel and infrastructure. In industries that are highly regulated, development of new products and systems can take even longer to achieve.
SMEs, in particular, are exposed to the dreaded ‘valley of death’ in the development cycle, a critical period where the probability of failure is highest and attracting funding is at its most critical and difficult to come by. RD&I grants can be leveraged from the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to support companies during this critical phase, as well as RDTC funding from the Revenue Commissioners.
DO SMES CLAIM THEIR FAIR SHARE OF RDTCS? We often find that SMEs are unaware they qualify for the RDTC, or if they are claiming, that they are not claiming their full entitlement. In 2019, the latest year for which statistics are available, the Irish Government supported businesses with €626 million in RDTC funding (cost to the Exchequer) and SMEs accounted for the significant majority of the claims made (89%), but only a fraction of the total RDTC funding provided (28%). It’s important to bear in mind that two thirds of claims made each year are for €100,000 or less (ie
1,080 claims out of 1,601 in 2019) and 80% of claims are for €200,000 or less (1,270 out of 1,601 claims in 2019). So, there are a large volume of relatively low value RDTC claims being made by SMEs each year. It’s also important to note that while the RDTC is a cost to our Exchequer, it is also a pull factor for companies considering coming to Ireland and for existing companies considering expanding their reach. Encouraging investment in R&D and the use of new technologies and innovations is also important for society as we grapple with challenges such as climate change, housing issues and greater demands on health services.
WHY ARE SMES NOT SUBMITTING MORE CLAIMS AND LARGER CLAIMS? We often find that SMEs believe that there is a significant staff burden and cost in claiming the RDTC and as result, are discouraged from claiming it. This does not necessarily need to be the case. If the appropriate systems are established at the outset of the R&D project, the information required to meet what the Revenue call the ‘Accounting Test’ and the ‘Science Test’ should fall out in a reasonably straightforward manner – it’s all about planning for the claim.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO MAKE THE RDTC MORE ACCESSIBLE TO SMES? The Irish RDTC is competitive and compares well with similar reliefs in other jurisdictions. However, it could be improved and made more accessible to SMEs, with limited cost to the Exchequer. Modest improvements, as outlined below, would be impactful, and at a modest and controllable cost:
● Increasing the RDTC rate from 25% to 35%, for all qualifying R&D expenditure up to a threshold of say €500,000, with the existing 25% rate applying to all expenditure in excess of that ● Increasing the existing outsourcing restrictions from 15% of all qualifying R&D expenditure, or €100,000 whichever is the greater, to say 25% of all qualifying R&D expenditure up to a threshold of €300,000, whichever is the greater.
This would particularly benefit smaller innovative businesses that would not have resources for substantial onsite R&D activities ● An acceptance that rent and other general overheads, which are a significant drain on cash for SMEs and which are a necessary cost for carrying out the R&D work, be treated as qualifying R&D expenditure, subject to a capped amount ● A new provision should be introduced to allow SMEs claim the credit before trading begins, allowing more SMEs to see an earlier return on R&D investments.
Ken Hardy, Tax Partner and R&D Incentives Practice Leader, KPMG Ireland The Finance Act 2019 proposed a regime for small and micro companies, however it ran into a number of challenges from the European Commission and did not proceed. The suggestions we are making above should however be acceptable, as the measures would be available to all eligible taxpayers.
WHAT SHOULD SMES DO BEFORE CLAIMING RDTCS? Get informed. The RDTC is a valuable source of funding and just like many other areas of business, appropriate time and effort will need to be invested in making a claim. Taking advice at the right time can however make your time investment more efficient and targeted to maintaining the right types of records and evidence from the get-go. Also, it is a tax relief, and SMEs should expect that the Revenue Commissioners may want to understand the details of their claims. It’s a good idea to factor this into your claim preparation process, so that you are ready to share the relevant details when needed.
This is a specialist area and SMEs should ensure that they and their advisors fully understand and document thoroughly the Accounting Test and Science Test mentioned earlier. This can be a complex area and professional judgement and experience are often necessary.
KPMG recognised the importance of this specialism in 2004 when we established our dedicated R&D Tax Credit practice – a multidisciplinary practice comprising of finance, tax professionals, scientists and engineers who exclusively work on RDTC claims. Our SME team have filed RDTC for companies of every size and scale and in all industry sectors.
Find out more at kpmg.ie Ken Hardy is a Tax Partner and R&D Incentives Practice Leader, KPMG in Ireland
COVER STORY
Work-life WOW
Factor
Emma Kennedy founded Grafter: Luxury Flexible Workspaces in 2021 with a vision to establish Ireland’s first work-lifestyle brand. With two beautifully restored Georgian buildings in Dublin, the business is already proving that its unique o ering is just what the market needs – to bring the ‘life’ back into work.
When Emma Kennedy was developing the concept behind Gra er, one thing that was really important to her was that it wouldn’t be simply about taking high-end buildings onto the market. “Absolutely I wanted to provide the same high service levels as other exible workspace operators, but I wanted to take it in a di erent direction – focusing on the fact that people should be able to work and thrive both inside and outside the o ce,” she says. “With the challenges of working from home during the pandemic, I could see there was a need for people to connect in a meaningful way and have di erent places to bond.”
A partnership secured with leading leisure and hospitality brand Press Up Hospitality Group in Spring 2021 was key to turning this keen observation into a tangible o ering, unique to the exible workspace market in Ireland. It means that members occupying its two Dublin City Centre locations – Forty-One Leeson Street and Ten Ely Place – gain access to 65 di erent venues throughout Dublin and Ireland for meetings, events, entertainment and leisure at exclusive preferential rates. ese include e Grayson and Angelina’s restaurants, Dean Hotels, Power Gym facilities and the iconic Stella Cinemas in Rathmines and Ranelagh.
“ e idea of Stella Cinemas being a venue to host large business presentations came to me at the start. e setting allows companies to be really creative, wow their clients and boost sta morale. Our team has gone to lots of venues over the past few months and are well versed on the di erent options and what will work for our members,” notes Kennedy.
“We want to tailor solutions to every member, from the o ce space itself right up to helping to navigate the local culture. A lot of businesses have just entered the Dublin market and don’t know where to go with clients or employees.”
THE LIGHT-BULB MOMENT
With a background in residential property in London, Kennedy made a bold move to Sydney for a unique opportunity to work for Servcorp, Australia’s leading premium o ce provider with 5-star facilities and 150+ locations worldwide. When an opportunity presented itself to look a er sales for a exible workspace provider in Ireland, she returned home to further develop her career within the serviced o ce industry where she worked for the next ve years.
“I always had it in my head to do something myself and the international exposure I got gave me the courage to do it. During the pandemic, everybody was moving jobs and reevaluating their lives and suddenly the opportunity I needed was put in front of me,” Kennedy explains. at opportunity was Forty-One Leeson Street being brought to the market by premium property developer Oakmount in March 2021. Having been vacant for 40 years, it had been fully renovated and sensitively restored to the highest standard to create 5,000 sq of Georgian o ce space. “Oakmount had done a fabulous job in re-developing the building but it was a challenge to get a single tenant to take the lease. is opened my eyes to the possibilities for exible workspace,” says Kennedy.
“We were successful in securing tenants quite quickly. e standard of the redevelopment was unusual; it stayed true to the original characteristics of the building, with the sash windows, cornicing and stone oors carefully restored by skilled cra smen and there is a lot of marble in communal areas and bathrooms. is was something exible workspace tenants hadn’t seen before.” With room for 100 Gra er members, Forty-One Leeson Street is currently at around 90% capacity.
“Usually within this market a tenant will sign up for a year, but we have secured companies for two years or more. Equally, the exible terms we o er have been very appealing to companies wanting to bring their sta back into an o ce environment for short periods at a time. Whatever a client needs to help them to acclimatise to hybrid working, we can
accommodate them. We have one client based in Leeson Street who has taken six desks but has 20 di erent employees rotating in and out,” notes Kennedy. “Anybody can come in and book a desk or a meeting room for a day or half day. Our aim is to bring value for money with high-end design.”
Within a few short months, Kennedy had identi ed a second location for Gra er – Ten Ely Place, the former Dublin design studio of internationally renowned designer John Rocha, also o ering 5,000 sq of exible workspace. Further to opening last December, ten of its 13 rooms are already occupied by Gra er members. “Many moons ago this Georgian building used to be a bank with heavy iron doors. We were surprised at its size and scale as a design studio when we moved in. e beautiful restoration retained original features such as the wooden oorboards, sash windows and ceiling roses. It’s a very cool and exclusive location with artwork by local Irish artists sourced from Kerlin Gallery,” Kennedy explains.
TICKING ALL THE BOXES
In both of Gra er’s locations, there is no mistaking the luxury and service, which feel more akin to a world-class boutique hotel than a workplace. Members are met by a front-of-house concierge who will look a er their every need. ere are showers, a towel service, bicycle racks and a fully-stocked kitchen; top-of-the-range video conferencing facilities, communal break-out spaces and an outdoor terrace.
“When our members come through the door, we want them to feel that the location is a home away from home. e frontof-house team act like an extension of their business and we want to take away all of their pain points,” says Kennedy.
“Building a company culture and hiring and retaining sta are challenges for a lot of businesses at the moment. We can give them a nice environment for the recruitment process to make that important rst impression and help to organise team weekends away. A lot of teams haven’t been able to meet for a considerable time; we can facilitate them to reconnect in di erent ways, like maybe a round of golf, instead of all going straight back into the o ce.” e ergonomic tech spec is very impressive; Gra er has even sourced sit-stand desks that can be controlled by an app on your phone. “We wanted to do something di erent to promote wellness. e app prompts you when you’ve been sitting down too long. It allows co-workers to track their calories and set each other challenges, which can be fun and builds camaraderie,” Kennedy notes.
“ e debate on whether the o ce is dead keeps going back and forth. I think it is more about the fact that the ways in which people use the o ce have changed. In general, larger companies and even SMEs will still acquire the same square footage but want to create more break-out areas and meeting rooms to bring people together. I think break-out areas will account for larger proportions of o ce spaces as trust builds about people working certain days from home.”
As to the future for Gra er, now that occupancy is high in both of its locations, Kennedy is actively looking out for new buildings, is keen to grow the team of eight people and is exploring the possibility of bringing hospitality in-house.
ROOM FOR GROWTH
The market for flexible workspaces in Dublin is going to become more competitive, and that’s a great thing, according to Founder and CEO of Grafter Emma Kennedy. “When I first started in Iconic O ices in 2015, the only other players were Glandore and Regus. In the past few years, international operators have arrived such as WeWork, Spaces and Huckletree as well as Irish providers such as ourselves. This has all helped to educate the market on what is possible within the flexible workspace model,” she says. “I believe there is room for more operators. The market in Dublin, for example, is small but demand is increasing. Click O ices’ latest market report found there is 1.5m sq ft of flexible workspace in Dublin and this is predicted to grow by 9% this year.” Kennedy has observed the broadening appeal of flexible workspace among di erent business types and sectors. “Initially, it was mainly local SMEs and professional services firms; then pharma and tech companies really grabbed hold of the idea. We have a real mix in our two locations, including tech, legal, aviation, wealth management and recruitment companies.”
Claire McHugh, Co-founder and CEO, Axonista
VIDEO VISIONARY
ENTREPRENEUR: CLAIRE McHUGH
Axonista’s technology turns video from a passive, one-way medium into a fully-interactive, immersive experience for the viewer. CEO Claire McHugh co-founded the business in Dublin in 2010 with Daragh Ward. Their original vision is reaping rewards internationally with clients including home shopping pioneers QVC and HSN.
Q: How did your background influence the founding of Axonista?
Claire McHugh (CMcH): Daragh and I founded Axonista from a shared vision that one day all video would be interactive via touchscreen devices. I was working at Setanta Sports and could see that TV was evolving away from cable into something more Internet-like. Daragh, who already had two tech start-ups under his belt, was inspired by the iPhone and its potential to make video into something much more interactive and personalised than watching TV. We had lots of ideas about how interactive video could be used for all sorts of video storytelling – news, sports, game shows, documentaries and shopping – but we also knew we were early to market, and there was still a lot to gure out.
PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITY
An active participant in the Irish start-up community, Claire McHugh is an advisor to Tech Ireland and Grow Remote and has been a lead entrepreneur for the female entrepreneurship programme Going for Growth. For her, tapping into the wider ecosystem has been a great way to continue to develop her own leadership skills and keep learning. “Without a large network of people, it’s very hard to scale a business. That goes for hiring, sales, investment, through to just navigating the day to day. It’s so important to build a network of peers that you can bounce ideas off, get a recommendation for a supplier from, find out how they implemented something at their company or get an introduction to a great new hire,” she says. 2014, when QVC chose Axonista’s technology and team to support its consumer video products. That relationship has continued to be very strong and strategic for us. All of these projects informed the roadmap of our technology platform. We’ve built streaming services for huge global brands across a multitude of viewing devices, so our technology and design expertise is really deep – as is our knowledge of and appreciation for video storytelling. As well as the large media companies, we have customers such as the Irish Film Institute, impact platform WaterBear and Fashion Relief TV, which raises funds for Oxfam Ireland.
Q: Can you outline your international strategy?
CMcH: We have been international since Day One, with a strong focus on the US. We’ve spent a lot of time building our network there, in particular in New York and Los Angeles. Leaning on advisors in Enterprise Ireland international offices has been especially helpful in nurturing leads and showcasing Axonista. It’s been like having an extra set of boots on the ground. Bank of Ireland gave us office space and event space in its Start Lab in New York.
Q: What is your view on entrepreneurship in Ireland?
CMcH: Over the past few years, I’ve taken the opportunity to deepen my understanding of the start-up ecosystem through getting to know other founders and providing any help and guidance I can, while also learning a great deal about how other people think about solving the problems we all face.
I recently joined the board of Scale Ireland, an Irish not-forprofit with a mission to support, represent and advocate on behalf of Irish tech companies and to create the most advantageous conditions for them to succeed. Ireland as a place to start a tech company has a lot of great things going for it, but there are tons of opportunities to shape policy to make it an even better and fairer ecosystem.
Personally, I’m glad to see the number of female-founded Irish tech companies increase over the past few years. We have some excellent female-focused entrepreneurship programmes such as AwakenHub and Going for Growth, which are clearly getting results.
Q: Where do you plan to go from here with Axonista ?
CMcH: We’ve just started into what is already shaping up to be another growth year for Axonista. We’ll be expanding the team in product, engineering and marketing this year. We’re also bringing a new product to market for media companies, specifically focused on video commerce and, for the first time, we’re raising an investment round to support that.
Q: What is the secret to the success and growth of the business?
CMcH: We created a strategy from the start of doing innovation services work for video companies. This would fund our company, build a strong international network, and enable us to build out our platform. Over time our vision gradually became reality and we recorded revenue growth of 83% year-on-year between 2020 and 2021. We earned a place in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 last year and our workforce has doubled in size to a remote-first team of 50 people across multiple countries.
The video commerce market is heating up with the rising popularity of livestream shopping. What sets us apart from competitors is our years of experience and understanding that video commerce is ‘commerce plus storytelling’. A frictionless, entertaining viewing experience for the shopper is an incredibly important piece of the equation. Media companies and brands trust us to help them navigate that space.
Q: What have been the key milestones on Axonista’s journey?
CMcH: In the early stages, we established some innovation partnerships with global brands that were also mapping out the future of video. Our first one was with MTV in New York, where we worked on innovation projects around music video on mobile devices. Closer to home, we had an innovation partnership with TV3 and jointly brought a second-screen companion app called Showpal to market in 2013. We then partnered with Aol, also in New York, on a range of interactive video prototyping and research projects across its brands.
Our first video commerce customer came along in
TRUST US TO HELP THEM NAVIGATE THAT SPACE.”
INDUSTRY FEATURE
Another at theOFFICE DAY
Corporates are practically scrambling for o ice space now that some semblance of normality has returned to working life, with many buildings in Dublin being pre-let long before they are completed, writes EITHNE DUNNE.
The Tropical Fruit Warehouse, Dublin 2 – 7,454 sq m o ice building due for delivery in 2022. CGI courtesy of IPUT Real Estate Dublin
KPMG’s planned HQ, Harcourt Square, Dublin 2
According to CBRE’s Outlook 2022 report, published in January, the Irish commercial property market performed better than expected in 2021, particularly in the second half of the year when restrictions eased. As o ce workers tentatively start returning to work, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in terms of the development and occupancy of o ce space.
Of the €5.5bn invested in Irish real estate last year, 30% went into o ces – second only to residential at 41%. Needless to say, when the pandemic rst arrived, it decimated demand for o ce space overnight – which was quite a change, considering where the market was pre-Covid-19.
“ e market was at its highest ever level in Dublin before the pandemic, with a huge amount of leasing going on,” says Marie Hunt, Executive Director and Head of Research, CBRE. “When Covid-19 hit, companies put their expansion plans on ice.”
Since the middle of last year, however, activity has been picking up, with some companies that had o oaded excess space at the start of Covid-19 looking to take it back. “Companies are in growth mode again and looking to increase their footprint,” says Hunt.
Shane Du y, Director of O ces at Savills Ireland, says the o ce market is “a million miles away” from where it was this time last year: “If you’re an occupier looking for a high-quality space of about 20,000 sq tomorrow, your options in Dublin City Centre would be thin on the ground and you’d nd yourself being pushed out towards the suburbs.”
Very little happened in the rst quarter of last year, with around 23,000 sq of take-up in Dublin – the lowest level on record. But there was a real shi in momentum from August 2021 onwards, adds Du y.
Sorting O ice in Dublin’s South Docklands, let to TikTok in 2021
According to the CBRE report, the increase in demand in the latter half of 2021 has taken time to trickle down. “ e stop/ start nature of government guidance on working from home had a de nite impact on the urgency of o ce requirements and the length of time taken to complete transactions,” says Hunt. erefore, despite a rebound in the latter half of the year, annual leasing volumes remained well below average overall, reaching 153,000 sq m during the year.
Keeping up with the burgeoning demand for space is no small ask. As the CBRE report notes, the closure of sites in 2020 and 2021 impacted delivery dates of various o ce schemes, with the result that, of around 240,000 sq m of o ces due for completion in Dublin this year, 56% are already pre-let.
Examples of recent activity include TikTok’s lease of the 216,000 sq Sorting O ce in Dublin’s South Docklands, which was completed just before Christmas. is was one of the largest two deals of last year, the other being KPMG’s pre-letting of Hibernia REIT’s Harcourt Square development (see panel). Both deals were done in the nal quarter of last year.
Du y says that KPMG had initially sought space of about 300,000 sq before the pandemic. “Everyone assumed that they would have reduced this post-Covid-19, but they took time out to revisit their plan, and came back to the market looking for essentially the same amount of space.”
Meanwhile, the Eight Building at Newmarket Square in Dublin 8 will span from basement level up to a h oor and comprise over 75,000 sq of o ces. Due for delivery this year is the Tropical Fruit Warehouse in Dublin 2, an 80,000 sq o ce building, while a postponed deal by An Post for the 80,000 sq Exo Building in the Point Village on the North Quays is also back on the cards. Enquiries about space are coming thick and fast, says Du y. Among the bigger players looking for
somewhere to hang their hat, for example, is Stripe, which is seeking up to 200,000 sq for 1,500-2,000 sta .
A new approach
Underlying everything that is happening in the market at present is the fact that the way people are using o ces has changed irrevocably.
“Most companies are adopting some form of hybrid approach, which means the ways o ces will be con gured and used will be very di erent,” says Hunt. “For example, there may not be a set desk for everyone or a set amount of space per person. While the overall footprint might not change, there will be fewer desks and much more openplan space.” at’s because, she says, with many people working remotely some of the time, they will want to use their time at the o ce to collaborate. “ ere will be investment in meeting rooms to allow for Zoom etc, and more in the way of movable furniture and microbial fabrics – akin to what you might nd in a hospital.”
Since the pandemic there is also a move towards fewer touchpoints, with swipe access to li s and so on. Du y says plans are including much more in the way of breakout areas/interactive space, but there are other nuances too. “We are seeing, for example,
HARCOURT HQ
One of the biggest o ice developments in Dublin City Centre over the next few years will be KPMG’s new headquarters at Harcourt Square, which will house all of the company’s Dublin-based employees under one roof. The professional services firm has pre-let the 288,500 sq ft building and will occupy it in 2026.
The thinking behind the move is to harness new ways of working for employees, as well as make better use of technology and improve client engagement. According to KPMG Managing Partner Seamus Hand, it is “one of the most exciting steps” in the firm’s history.
“Technology and the pandemic have had a huge impact on the nature of our engagement with clients as well as the way our people work and how ideas are exchanged. Our o ice will be designed to capture these changes in a forwardthinking and creative way,” he says.
Eight Building, Newmarket Square, Dublin 8
more internal staircases to encourage people to use stairs as well as an emphasis on outdoor space as a prerequisite.”
For companies unsure about making major commitments, there are exible options, notes Hunt. “If you’re in desperate need of a few desks or a oor but don’t necessarily want to commit to a 20-year lease, you can nd them,” she says. “You can shrink and grow as you need to.” (See Cover Story page 20).
Meanwhile, environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles have been steadily creeping up the agenda for many companies. ese are expected to gain momentum this year, with growing evidence of a green premium for the most sustainable buildings. e increased focus on carbon reduction will also lead to more refurbishment of older o ce buildings instead of replacing them.
What does 2022 hold?
According to CBRE, this year will see greater divergence in performance and pricing between prime and secondary o ce buildings, with occupiers and investors alike favouring newer, more sustainable buildings. “Buildings that demonstrate the highest standards of sustainability, wellness and placemaking and provide the best communal facilities and amenities in campus-style environments will ultimately fare best,” its report states.
Overall demand will continue, however, choice will be limited for companies seeking space as the market soaks up all available supply, says Hunt. “A lot of the space that came available during the pandemic when companies o oaded tted-out space – what we call ‘grey space’ – has been taken up. While we will continue to build and see demand, we are not likely to go back to the pre-pandemic levels of activity until at least next year.”
She adds that many companies are likely to take a ‘wait-and-see’ approach. “It will take three to six months for occupiers to see how things are playing out. It would be rash to make decisions now when they don’t know how many people will be coming into the o ce etc. So this will take time to bed down, with many holding o on major decisions.” e market is generally expected to be dominated by small-to-medium lettings this year, with landlords facilitating multiple lets. And while the tech sector will continue to be the biggest source of demand, it’s also anticipated to come from the professional and nancial services sectors.
ofFollowers FASHION
Rónán Ó’Dálaigh, Founder and CEO of Thriftify, is on a mission to put charity shops and impactful organisations at the forefront of the sustainable fashion movement. The e-commerce start-up announced a rebrand in January, including an overhaul of the website and user experience.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Thriftify?
RÓD: Initially ri ify was born from my passion for bargains and sustainability. Getting great gems in charity shops has been something I’ve loved since I was teenager. Having nabbed a lot of items for much lower than their value I felt there was an opportunity for the charities to make more money. As well as that, selling more used products online really helps lower our environmental impact. e seed for the business was planted in 2014 when I entered into a partnership with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland to research the value of its donations. From there, we began to develop the technology to help charities sell online. Since we launched the website in 2018, there has been growing demand for used, impactful goods. Currently 98% of Ireland’s charity retailers are present and selling on our site. e vision we now have is about changing not just how the world shops, but why.
Q: What are you doing with Thriftify that is compelling?
RÓD: e big value-add of what we’re doing is in connecting technology and community. We have a very powerful and innovative system that is enabling charity shops to quickly and easily list their items for sale online. But that is only of any use if we can connect them with the right community, ‘ ri ers’ – people who want to be a part of a movement to change the world and are ready to embrace a di erent way of shopping. So our big challenge is to use tech to facilitate those people.
Q: How have you grown and developed the business?
RÓD: Ultimately for us it’s been about focusing on the things that work and trying to leverage them to the best of our ability. For example, we have a big base of shoppers who visit our site regularly, so retention is a massive focus for us. We’ve seen our tra c grow more than 350% in a year to 731,000 visitors in 2021. But that’s no good if it’s not matched by sales and a growing community. So we try and serve the community, giving them content, campaigns and sales that will keep them with us. In 2021, Irish charities uploaded a total of 56,538 items. Out of these, there were 23,026 orders from shoppers.
In addition, we’ve tried to stay very lean. Every service provider we engage with gets the hard sales pitch about why we deserve their service at a cheaper price. In the early stages of a start-up, survival is a serious consideration, especially when you’re investing to grow, like we are. You can’t just rely on the growth or income though; you need to focus on scale and getting nance from funders who are con dent enough in your team’s abilities that they’ll spend their money on building something big.
Q: Where are you at in terms of outside investment?
RÓD: So far we’ve raised a total of €550,000 in investment from Elkstone Partners and Enterprise Ireland. We’ve used this to achieve a lot over the past year, including the rebrand, our new enterprise solution, a lot of new customer acquisition and launching in the UK. We’re now fundraising again and actively looking for the right investors who share our passion for transforming the fashion industry.
Q: What exactly did your rebrand in January involve?
RÓD: e rebrand has been something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, but keeping things lean also means doing the right things at the right times. So, initially we focused on serving charity shops more than our direct-to-consumer website – primarily because without great quality charity shop gems it doesn’t matter how snazzy the website is. We felt that we were there or thereabouts with our enterprise solution so the timing was right to revamp our public-facing site.
We have a very big mission and the old site just didn’t represent that. Our new site is much more compelling. All of the pictures are from real ri ers in our community so it makes our vision more realistic. One of the best aspects of a rebrand is that it’s an opportunity to create a coherent and data-driven approach. For us, that meant looking at all of the use cases and search queries as well as guring out where the big bottlenecks were and why we were losing users on certain pages. It’s still early days but we’ve already seen that our bounce rate across the site is down massively. Our worst page had a 35% bounce rate; now that’s down to below 2%.
Q: What potential do you see for Thriftify going forward?
RÓD: We aim to generate around €3m for charities selling on the site in 2022. We now have 35 charities signed up in the UK, including big names such as Age UK, and are actively trialing in other markets and working on major contracts. We are laying the foundation for substantial growth as the second-hand fashion market is predicted to double in value globally to reach US%77bn within the next ve years (according to readUp’s 2021 Resale Report). is year, we plan to increase our team from 26 to 36 people and launch a business-to-consumer app that will position ri ify alongside the likes of Etsy, Depop and other secondhand shopping apps.
Currently 98% of Ireland’s charity retailers are present and selling on our site. The vision we now have is about changing not just how the world shops, but why.” Rónán Ó’Dálaigh, Founder and CEO of Thriftify
DRIVING AHEAD
Co-founder and Chief Operating O icer of Future Mobility Campus Ireland Wassim Dergeuch is determined to build a collaborative ecosystem to shift Ireland into a new era of smarter, safer, more sustainable transport.
While working as a senior software engineer at Jaguar Land Rover in Shannon in early 2019, Wassim Dergeuch was part of a team looking at how to manage realtime data from vehicles in the cloud. “I was involved in innovative projects focused on creating unique experiences. At the time Jaguar Land Rover was leading the testbed working group for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Ireland, the multi-stakeholder forum exploring the business opportunities for these technologies,” he recalls.
“I could see the need for a structure allowing access to all sorts of data from various partners, with the right infrastructure and a complete data centre capability onsite to apply machine learning and artificial intelligence [AI] features to vehicles.”
Dergeuch had come to Ireland in 2009 to work as a research scientist at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway. There, he got his PhD which was focused on the use of emerging technologies to manage variability in business processes.
“This triggered my interest in the Internet of Things and data analytics and management. On leaving NUI Galway, I worked at the spin-off company Derilinx, which specialises in open-data solutions for clients such as the Irish Government, the HSE and the World Bank. From there, I decided that whatever I would do should be aligned with making Ireland a centre of excellence for innovation and data management,” explains Dergeuch, who is a member of Robots, Cobots and Robotics Technical Committee TC49 at the National Standards Authority of Ireland.
CEO of Future Mobility Campus Ireland (FMCI) Russell Vickers was employed at Jaguar Land Rover in Shannon at the same time as Dergeuch. Together, they worked to bring the concept for the campus to fruition. Key to this was securing Regional Enterprise Development Fund funding as well as wide-ranging support for the idea, including from IDA Ireland, University of Limerick, Insight, Cisco and county councils.
“Part of FMCI’s mission statement is to become the destination for testing and validating advanced mobility and future mobility. There are other testbeds in Europe and the UK, but most are privately owned by original equipment manufacturers [OEMs] whereas we are not-for-profit and State-funded. It is very rare to find this type of structure around the world, especially in relation to the type of collaboration involved,” notes Dergeuch.
STATE-OF-THE-ART FACILITY Located in the Limerick-Shannon metropolitan area at the Shannon Free Zone in Co Clare, the FMCI will comprise a 12km road network that is retro-fitted with interconnected, state-of-theart sensing and telecommunication technologies. It is currently working with Shannon Commercial Properties to build the necessary infrastructure for this, including roadside equipment, smart traffic lights and a dedicated fibre network in the area. Construction of the data centre building is also underway.
“Fully-accessible and controlled via a dedicated control centre, FMCI will facilitate the test and validation of mobility innovations – on the road and in the air – so everyone involved can trial, test and innovate in a laboratory with real-life conditions,” Dergeuch explains.
“If you want to be competitive and make an impact in this space, you need access to the most advanced emerging technologies as well as the technical infrastructure. No one player can do this alone. We see FMCI as an enabler, hosting all the necessary technologies and allowing multinationals to speak to and work together with other multinationals, start-ups and researchers to develop new innovations.”
Dergeuch describes FMCI as being “like a smart-city environment focused on transport and connectivity and with all the necessary computing capability for machine learning and AI”. “The way I see this working, for example, is giving a start-up with an idea for how to manage certain vehicle data access to all the capabilities required at a fraction of the cost,” he says.
Land Rover Defender at Future Mobility Campus Ireland
Wassim Dergeuch, Co-founder and COO, Future Mobility Campus Ireland
DISRUPTIVE FORCES
“Four main disruptive forces will fundamentally change how people and goods move in the future: connected vehicles, autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles and shared mobility.”
FUTURE SKILLS “As the new Steering Group Chair of Shannon Chamber Skillnet, I want us to build a suite of learning programmes covering sustainability and future technologies.”
LOGISTICS OPPORTUNITY “Advancements in robotics and autonomous vehicles have the potential to make a huge impact in terms of reducing the amount of trucks in towns and cities and the disposal of dangerous waste.”
As a partner of FMCI, Jaguar Land Rover has loaned it two vehicles, a Jaguar I-Pace and Land Rover Defender. These have been kitted out with the latest technologies, including sensors, cameras, radars and data processing.
“Each of these vehicles costs half a million euro, but we can make them available on a rental basis to give companies hands-on experience with the equipment,” notes Dergeuch. “Limerick-based Provizio is currently using one of these vehicles to test its new technology for accident prevention using long-range radars.”
SUCCESS STORIES While FMCI’s main focus at the moment is on building the campus infrastructure, it has already achieved success in terms of encouraging foreign direct investment. Last year, American automotive data management software company Renovo Motors announced the establishment of its EMEA headquarters and software development hub on the site.
Another key development in 2021 for FMCI was the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Skyports, Avtrain and Shannon Group to establish Ireland’s first passenger and cargo vertiport. Skyports is the world’s leading passenger air taxi and cargo drone vertiport provider while Avtrain is Europe’s leading drone training and certification body.
Expected to encourage R&D activities and investment in Ireland’s advanced aerial mobility industry, the long-term goal of this partnership is the establishment of Ireland’s first air taxi service and routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight drone operations.
“Phase I of the vertiport for drone testing and pilot training is currently being built, involving a piece of land being turned into a small advanced aerial mobility hub. We want to progress innovation in the drone space in terms of logistics but also more advanced inspection, for example, using drones to inspect the local estuary and see where certain birds come to nest,” says Dergeuch. “In addition, we are currently trying to link with Avtrain to develop a training programme for advanced mobility in Shannon.”
NEED FOR COLLABORATION Jaguar Land Rover recently announced a partnership with gaming graphics and chip technology company Nvidia to make software for autonomous driving features and connected services in cars, starting in 2025. Software experts from both companies will collaborate to develop new technologies for Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, including safety, automated driving and parking systems as well as driver-assistance systems.
According to Nvidia, its software-defined Drive platform would serve as the “brain” and “central nervous system” of the cars. It is already being used by companies such as Volvo, Mercedez-Benz, Hyundai and a number of Chinese electric vehicle start-ups.
“While FMCI is not directly involved, it is no surprise for us to see engagements such as the one announced between Jaguar Land Rover and Nvidia, as both are leaders in their respective domains. Joining forces can only help both companies drive the innovation space further towards the delivery of future mobility,” says Dergeuch.
In January, Mercedes partnered with self-driving company Luminar to enable autonomous driving for its next generation of vehicles. Autotech deals were also recently signed by Google and Ford and Amazon and Stellantis. “Such engagement between large companies shows the need for collaborations between multiple partners to develop new and disruptive innovations. This does not exclude the involvement of other partners from start-ups, SMEs and academia. That is why, and following the same path, we are working with Nvidia to provide both in-vehicle configurations and compute capabilities to support other potential partners in the development of their products.”
