The Supply Side Argument – Dublin Offices
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AOL to add jobs at new headquarters
Tuesday, 8 June 2010 09:55
The internet company, AOL, is to provide 50 new software engineering jobs at its Dublin development centre over the next two years.AOL has also announced it is moving to new headquarters in Dublin city centre from its base at Citywest, where it has been for the past 10 years.
Managing director of AOL global operations Aengus McLean told RTÉ radio the jobs would be mainly for development engineers. He said there would be 23 immediate full-time vacancies, and 12 contract positions.
Mr McLean said AOL had noticed a pick-up in the technology sector in Ireland. He also said the company had secured a great deal on rents for its new headquarters in Dublin because of the downturn.
AOL was spun off by Time Warner in December, having merged with the company at the height of the dotcom boom.
All are aware that there are many vacant office buildings in the City Centre as a result of development output peaking just as demand fell off a cliff due to domestic and external factors. Is this transaction indicative of a future trend of companies who fled the City Centre for suburban business parks in the past decade due to higher rental levels now using market conditions to upgrade to better space?
Yes!
There is so much more on offer in the city centre. This is a very welcome trend. Lets get employment back into the city centre where it has the greater knock on effect on services such as restaurants and shops.
I am sorry bland suburban business parks but you were all just a bad ideaA lot of specialist staff point blank refuse to work in outer business parks or else require a hefty pay premium, so there has always been a balancing act between rents and staff costs for a given location.
I think the key worker location issue is probably a little overdone in the current climate but when the market moves back into equilibrium it would certainly be a major factor in staff retention. Clearly as Stephen says the City Centre has a far better ‘lifestyle’ aspect; the whole idea of Friday lunchtime team building sessions in a suburban business park just doesn’t work.
I have been very impressed by the marketing done by the Swiss for their financial industry; they are great at highlighting the urban aspects of their cities and the resulting ability to attract young footloose highly skilled graduates who wish to travel early in their careers. Dublin with so much available space really does have a competitive advantage as against competitor cities; I strongly hope that the IDA highlight the value that is on offer for tenants; the rents will always adjust after 5 years once they are at current levels.
From a civic point of view encouraging vibrancy and viablity of public transport can only be a very good thing and it is good to see a major International player go for quality of life versus bargain basement.
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