Core Five Partners Andrew Hyman, Bernard Duffy, Dominic Harling and Simon Hughes thoroughly enjoyed attending the BCO conference last week. Here are a couple of our reflections on this busy couple of days in sunny Dublin;
It was a very well organised and attended event, in a very sociable hosting City. The overall focus on place making and the impact of focus on future occupancy requirements were an appropriate backdrop for the conference.
There were a couple of common threads that came up in discussions with Clients and fellow consultants, that chime well with what we are seeing on the 20msqft of commercial work we are currently engaged on:
- Project viability often under severe pressure as increased construction costs, increased finance costs, and limited value growth hit appraisals
- The planning system is not functioning well, and often slowing those projects that are trying to come forward from coming forward
- Genuine Grade A spec office space in the City and West End remain in limited supply and as such demand remains strong, the “best and the rest”
- Strong interest in retrofit / refurbishment / extension works, particularly around the upcoming EPC milestones
A big thank you to everyone who made the BCO conference such an enjoyable and insightful one!
Check out some of our £20m sqft of Commercial work here.
