Ireland - Fingal's paving the way

Fingal, the area north of Dublin, is now the fastest-growing part of Ireland. The town of Drogheda, which has a population of 30,000 today, is scheduled to treble in size by 2024 as part of a government effort to take pressure off Dublin.

The proposed Bremore port development, between Drogheda and Balbriggan, will give further stimulus to the area.

"Lots of warehouses are already springing up in Balbriggan. It will be good competition to Dublin, " says Eddie Keyes, customer service and quality manager at liner agent and freight forwarder Aseco.

He believes a new option is important. "You used to get four deliveries a day done in Dublin, but now it's two - and clients don't allow for that. Traffic is a major problem and I'm not sure if the port tunnel will make much difference." Gavin Butler, associate director of property agent Hamilton Osborne King (HOK), confirms: "A couple of industrial estates are going up in Balbriggan, because despite the distance, it's only 15 minutes to the port tunnel. The northward extension of the M1 last year has increased demand for space in the Balbriggan area and further north into Co Louth." Garvan Cerasi, who runs Balbriggan-based recruitement agency Logiskills, says the council has looked at developing a 100ha logistics park at a disused airfield at Gormanstown. Coupled with the northward extension of the M1, the imminent opening of the port tunnel and the Bremore scheme, he says: "It positions us in a good geographical area." The industrial property market suffered in 2002-03, but is "back in full flight" and has almost returned to the levels seen in the late 90s, says Butler. Vacancy levels in the Dublin area are now around 12% and are set to fall below 10% this year, compared with 15% two or three years ago.

Building values have increased by 5-10% in the last year and rental values are steady.

The only buildings staying empty long-term are those on Industrial Development Agency (IDA) estates, which are either restricted to manufacturing and hence not available to distribution companies, or have become obsolete because of low eaves, lack of loading capability or limited parking.

A lot of the stock in north Dublin is considered obsolete, but HOK expects demand for space to increase dramatically after the tunnel opens. "It will have an impact on land values and demand. The M50 is still where most people want to be based, " Butler says.

The IDA's emphasis was on science and technology zoning in the boom years, but things changed after the dotcom bubble burst.

Logistics and distribution is the driving force behind the market, and 65% of enquiries for industrial property in the Dublin area are from this sector, chiefly to the north-west and south-west of the city.

Four developments to the north and northwest will together provide 140ha of new industrial land - Abbotstown at Ballycoolin, Turvey north of Swords, the North City Business Park and Dublin Airport Logistics Park, where 16,000sq metres was pre-let to DHL last year.