Moving Dublin City Council’s headquarters from Wood Quay to Camden Yard – new location at the former Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) site on Kevin Street – is about sustainability, according to the Dublin City Council’s Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare.
The Government has set a target for all public buildings to achieve a minimum BER rating of B by 2030. Therefore, to meet that BER rating, the cost of retrofitting the council’s current head office to meet its climate commitments has risen as high as €400 million, he claimed.
In comparison, it is planned that the Camden Yard site will have a BER rating of A3. “As outlined previously, relocating from the existing Civic Offices at Wood Quay would also unlock the potential for over 500 public homes on the Wood Quay lands,” Shakespeare noted.
“This approach supports both our climate objectives and the city’s significant housing needs. Work will now begin on the detailed design, planning, and sequencing required to advance this project,” he noted, adding that updates will be provided “as key stages are reached”.
The purchase of the former DIT site on Kevin Street for more than €580 million for a new Dublin City Council headquarters and apartment complex has now been completed. Grant Thornton completed the receivership sale of the complex on Kevin Street in early April.
However, despite its plan to move to the new location at Camden Yard on Kevin Street by 2029. Dublin City Council (DCC) has set aside more than €10 million to refurbish the Wood Quay office building.
Under DCC’s three-year Capital Programme, presented at the monthly council meeting on 13 April, councillors were told the funding would be earmarked for renovations, energy-efficiency improvements, security upgrades and more for the existing Civic Offices.
This is despite the council’s intention to demolish the complex and replace it with housing when staff move to a new building in Camden Yard. Plans have been outlined to build a four-block, 530-unit apartment scheme on the Wood Quay site.
The council hopes to have built the 14-storey scheme and vacated its Wood Quay base by 2030, in what will be the biggest move in the local authority’s history since the construction of the riverside offices started 50 years ago.
