Business Plus magazine, Dublin’s leading business magazine, featured our director, Andy Brainin, in a recent article on Brexit and the increased workforce that is expected to end up in Dublin…
12 May 2017 | 03.16 pm
Dublin ‘Not Ready’ For Brexit Influx
Dublin needs to improve its city centre offering if it is to be able to meet the needs of businesses looking to relocate staff from the UK in preparation for Brexit, according to an investor with €30m of assets in the city.
Andy Brainin, director of South Hill Capital, which owns and manages 50,000 sq.ft of residential and commercial property in Dublin, believes that the current offering of homes and infrastructure is not fit for purpose and could lead to the city losing out to European alternatives.
“The fact that global businesses are looking at potentially moving large numbers of their workforce over to Dublin is great for the city, but at the moment we don’t have the right quantity or quality of residential accommodation in and around the city centre to meet demand,” said Brainin.
“For Dublin to take advantage of the situation, it is going to need a concerted effort by the lenders, politicians, developers and planners to push construction forward. With the likes of JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and Goldman Sachs already considering where to locate staff, now is the time to be demonstrating that the city is serious about accommodating them. Hiscox, for example, has already chosen Luxembourg for its new post Brexit European subsidiary.”
In Brainin’s view, Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022 sets out a grand vision. “But there is doubt as to whether it will be implemented quickly enough, or go far enough, to enable the required development to take place,” he says.
“I don’t think we have the luxury of time. We need to see Dublin City Council move swiftly to pass planning applications and consider flexibility on what is and isn’t allowed. New development sites are at a premium, but should the Development Plan be approved, there is plenty of scope to better utilise existing building stocks, particularly in the city’s Georgian district.”
Traffic Congestion
Brainin’s comments echo Dublin Chamber’s submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight earlier this week. CEO Mary Rose Burke (pictured) warned that traffic congestion in the Greater Dublin Area is costing the Irish economy a minimum of €350 million every year, a figure that will rise to €2 billion annually by 2033, according to new figures from the Department of Transport.
Burke argued that preparing the Greater Dublin Area for Brexit should be the overriding priority in deciding how to spend the remaining €2.6 billion in unallocated capital funds.
“Brexit is the greatest imminent opportunity facing Ireland. For the best national outcome, government should use the unallocated funds to ‘Brexit-proof’ Dublin by achieving tangible progress on housing supply, commuting, travel times, and the quality of public transport.
“Our national capital receives the lowest per capita spend on infrastructure in the entire country, despite all of Ireland depending on its success to drive growth, attract investment, and to fund regional services. This cannot continue. Ireland’s future is urban. We need to start investing in infrastructure in a way that respects and reflects where the Irish people are actually choosing to live in their greatest numbers.”