Committee Reports::Report - Office of Public Works::09 January, 1985::Appendix


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APPENDIX 1

Renting of Office Blocks: Statement.

1.The Office of Public Works is responsible for the provision of accommodation for the Civil Service as a whole, with some exceptions, notably the former Department of Posts and Telegraphs.

2.It is not responsible for the provision of accommodation for Statutory Bodies or Semi-State organisations.

3.The Office receives demands from Departments for space, the necessity for which arises, either because of the unsuitability of existing accommodation or because some new service has to be provided. Although demand has fallen off in volume since about the middle of 1981 a fairly widespread need for additional rented space continued into 1982. Many of these demands had to be met by renting premises in the open market. Very little space was taken in 1983.

In the decade 1972 to 1982 the average annual increment of rented accommodation was of the order of 200,000 sq. ft. and the Commissioners of Public Works had to compete in the open market with other prospective lessees for this space.

It was very much a “seller’s” market for most of that period with the result that in order to meet demands of the scale indicated, it was necessary for the Office of Public Works to open negotiations as soon as premises came on the market which were generally suitable to particular needs. The property market at the time dictated that, in order to secure such premises and forestall competitors, liability for rent had to be accepted from the date of agreement of terms and lessors were not, as a rule, willing to facilitate the Government by agreeing to a later rental date.

It was always the aim of the Office of Public Works to secure a “rent free” period to ease the liability for rent during the “lead-in” period to occupation but the market situation current at any particular time has naturally a strong influence on the terms and conditions of leases which the Office of Public Works can negotiate. Liability for rent had, therefore, to be accepted with only a general idea of what sections of staff would be going to the new buildings and space was of necessity, left unoccupied during the “lead-in” period.

The market situation has changed in recent times and it is now possible to obtain more favourable conditions such as rent free periods.

With the exception of the small takes leased in 1983 and 1984, such unoccupied rented office blocks as are at present on the Office of Public Works books are the last of the buildings leased during the “seller’s” period and which are now at various stages on the road to occupation.

Apart from the considerations indicated above about the rental market, leased premises are essentially shell buildings completed on the outside but with only minimum finishes and services internally. Following agreement on lease terms, a number of steps must be taken to convert the leased shell building into finished office accommodation suitable to the specific organisational needs of the Department(s) in question.

4.The attached schedule shows details of space leased by the Office of Public Works 1981 to date, totalling approximately 368,000 sq. ft.

There are at present five unoccupied rented premises yielding a total of about 144,000 sq. ft. Contract works are in progress in all of these and occupation is anticipated as follows:-

February ’84	6,000 sq. ft.	(Exchange Buildings)
March ’84	24,500 sq. ft.	(76-78 Harcourt Street)
Mid ’84	39,800 sq. ft.	(Harcourt Sq. Blocks II and IV)
End ’84	10,400 sq. ft.	(Harcourt Sq. Block II assuming receipt of early brief).
	3,850 sq. ft.	(Westpark Road, Tallaght)
Jan ’85	60,500 sq. ft.	(Kilmainham Warehouse)

There is also at present approximately 17,150 sq. ft. of unoccupied space within partially occupied buildings. An industrial dispute is preventing occupation of approximately 6,000 sq. ft. of this (85-93 Lower Mount Street), a brief of requirements is awaited in respect of about 7,800 sq. ft. (Harcourt Square Block I) and placing of a contract is awaiting clearance from the Planning Authority in respect of the remaining 3,350 sq. ft. (Lombard House).

The rental cost of all current unoccupied space is £887,000 per annum.

5.The policy being pursued by the Commissioners of Public Works in relation to the provision of accommodation for Civil Service staffs is to build premises where possible and the Commissioners have in operation a building programme for this purpose which is at present being updated. This aim can, of course, only be achieved over a period of years and consequently it has been necessary to rent space to meet the more pressing requirements of Government Departments. While building is the preferred option, capital is a scarce resource for which building is in competition with other State programmes. Where capital cannot be made available for building, there may be no option but to rent to meet requirements. At present, the Commissioners have no proposals to rent further accommodation of any magnitude.

Under the building programme approved in 1976 over 980,000 sq. ft. of accommodation has already been provided by the Office of Public Works. Another 250,000 sq. ft. approximately are in course of erection. Work on site is expected to commence soon on a further 150,000 sq. ft. and planning is under way on a number of other projects.

Schedule of Premises leased by Office Public Works from January 1984

Premises		Area sq. ft.	Lease Commencement Date	Department concerned	Statement of present position
1.	Sarsfield House	4,800	1/2/’81	D/Education	Occupied April 1981
	Limerick (Floor 3)			Fisheries and Forestry	Occupied November 1982
2.	85-93 Mount Street (Block 5 and 6)	49,400	6/2/’81	Revenue Commissioners	Occupation commenced June 1982. Full occupation is still delayed because, it is understood, of industrial disputes, concerning initially, the Government embargo on the filling of posts and latterly a difficulty concerning disturbance money. The unoccupied space amounts to approximately 6,000 sq. ft.
3.	Smithfield Chambers	14,960	25/2/’81	Justice
				(Welfare Service)	Occupied July 1983.
4.	Finglas Shopping	2,660	1/3/’81	Labour
	Centre			(Manpower Services)	Occupied September 1982.
	Unit 14C
5.	Harcourt Square	41,604	1/6/’81	Justice
	Block II			(Garda Metropolitan Headquarters)	Fitting out works in progress except for top two floors for which brief is awaited. Occupation is expected mid 1984.
	Block III	27,245	1/6/’81		75% occupied August 1983, remainder Nov. ’83.
6.	Offices in Tralee	1,289	29/6/81	Labour
				(Manpower Service)	Occupied April, 1982.
7.	Kilmainham			Office of Public Works	Works in progress. Contract completion due January, 1985.
	Warehouse	50,530	1/8/’81	(Furniture Branch)	Works in progress. Contract completion due January, 1985.
8.	Lombard House	11,820	16/9/81	Health	Occupation commenced November, 1983 and completed December 1983.
		3,350			Ground floor area being sub-leased to the Eastern Health Board, lease commencement date being 16/9/82. Clearance from Planning Authority awaited before contract can be placed.
9.	Gandon House
	(3rd and 4th Floors)	15,898	1/10/81	Social Welfare	Partially occupied December 1981 and fully occupied following execution of fitting out works in August, 1982.
10.	Hibernian House Galway
	(pt. 1st floor)	1,980	5/11/81	Revenue	Occupied August ’82.
11.	Sun Alliance Building	3,200	25/12/81	Stationery Office
	Dawson Street			(Government Publications Sales Offices)	Occupied February 1983.
12.	76-78 Harcourt Street	24,540	15/1/82	Foreign Affairs	Fitting-out works in progress. Planned date of occupation is February/March
13.	Harcourt Square
	Block I	39,491	1/5/’82	Justice (Garda Metropolitan Headquarters	Occupied July 1983 except for top floor for which a brief of requirements is awaited.
	Block IV	8,606	1/1/’82	„	Fitted out works in progress. Occupation is expected mid 1984.
14.	Nassau House	9,400	15/2/’82	Industry and Energy	Occupation commenced October, 1982. Premises fully occupied May 1983.
15.	Dolphin House	19,840	1/4/82	Justice (Courts)	Occupation commenced February 1983 and and completed september 1983.
16.	Island House
	Galway	5,260	1/10/’82	Environment
				(Driving Tester)	Occupied May 1983
				Social Welfare
				(Medical Referee)	June 1983
				Labour
				(Manpower Services)	April 1983
17.	Poplar Square
	Naas	5,330	1/12/82	Agriculture	Occupied September, 1983.
18.	Coolock Shopping
	Centre Unit A2	800	1/4/83	Labour
				(Manpower Service)	Occupied April 1983.
19.	Exchange Building	6,095	1/1/84	Revenue	Contract works in progress. Anticipated occupation Feb. 84.
20.	Old Hospital
	Portlaoise	2,429	1/7/’82	D/Agriculture	Occupied 1/9/’82
21.	Washington St. Cork	4,400	1/1/’83	D/Social Welfare	Occupied 12/9/83
22.	Westpark Road,
	Tallaght	3,850	28/10/’83	„	Works in progress. Occupation expected Autumn ’84.