{"id":517341,"date":"2026-06-25T07:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T07:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517341\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T07:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T07:24:15","slug":"exo-building-owners-say-alleged-defects-and-security-issues-leave-five-floors-vacant-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517341\/","title":{"rendered":"Exo Building owners say alleged defects and security issues leave five floors vacant \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alleged structural defects and security issues have made almost a quarter of one of the tallest office buildings in the State difficult to lease, the owners of the building have said.<\/p>\n

In an appeal over how commercial rates would be calculated for the 17-storey Exo Building<\/a> in Dublin\u2019s docklands, the Platform ICAV said a net annual value (Nav) of \u20ac1 million applied to vacant floors by the commissioner of valuation was \u201cexcessive and inequitable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Commercial rates for office blocks are calculated by multiplying a property\u2019s Nav by the annual rate on valuation. The Platform ICAV has successfully appealed the \u20ac1 million value applied to the Exo Building, with the amount reduced to \u20ac933,000 by the Valuations Tribunal.<\/p>\n

Tailte \u00c9ireann\u2019s first valuation of the Exo Building was based on a rate of \u20ac260 per sq m, the same price attached to office blocks including 4 & 5 Dublin Landings and 1 Windmill Lane, Dublin 2.<\/p>\n

In appeal documents, CBRE <\/a>head of business rates Terry Devlin, acting on behalf of Exo Building\u2019s owners, said the offices of \u201csimilar standard and specification\u201d were given Nav valuations of \u20ac240 per sq m <\/p>\n

He added that the building was difficult to let because it was \u201cslightly isolated\u201d as one of the most easterly offices in the docklands. <\/p>\n

The building also \u201csuffered from security issues\u201d every two days when events were taking place in the 3Arena and proximity to the venue led to the inconvenience of navigating queues to access the building.<\/p>\n

Devlin also submitted that the remaining office spaces were \u201cdifficult sizes\u201d for prospective tenants, \u201cbeing too large at approximately 16,000sq ft on the third floor and the other remaining vacant floors were too small\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"\"Has the Irish building sector got themselves hooked on Government subsidies?<\/p>\n

The building owners have marketed Exo Building office space as having \u201cstunning panoramic views of Dublin\u201d. The appeal said the view from the third floor \u201cjust looked at the 3Arena\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Valuations Tribunal also considered \u201calleged defects\u201d with the building\u2019s glazing. <\/p>\n

Last year, the main contractor behind the Exo Building, Bennett (Construction) Limited, sued a Spanish contractor for \u20ac7.4 million over the alleged defects<\/a> in the block. Devlin said the legal action was ongoing.<\/p>\n

The appeal to the Valuations Tribunal added a bolt had \u201csheared off the external frame at eighth floor level and had fallen on to the glazed canopy below\u201d. <\/p>\n

The building contractor and steel supplier have started an investigation into the matter and each bolt \u201call over the building had to be tested and retested\u201d. <\/p>\n

These issues \u201cwere putting potential tenants off the building\u201d noted appeal documents. <\/p>\n

The tribunal struck out the \u20ac1 million Nav and reduced the valuation. It said the building\u2019s location \u201cat the extreme end of the quays does not constitute a more desirable location\u201d than comparable buildings. The block, which was Dublin\u2019s tallest office building when it was completed in 2022, is occupied by tenants including An Post, Yahoo and Ancestry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alleged structural defects and security issues have made almost a quarter of one of the tallest office buildings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3265,220730,72,11929,220729,61,60],"class_list":["post-517341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-3arena","tag-bennett-construction","tag-business","tag-cbre","tag-exo-building","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}