With rents of €376 per sq m (€35 per sq ft) compared to €538 per sq m (€50 per sq ft) in the IFSC, a pair of office buildings near the IFSC should attract IFSC companies, writes Jack Fagan

Companies based in Dublin's IFSC looking for larger office accommodation and others with a break option coming up are expected to target a new office development which has just been completed within a few hundred yards of the International Financial Services Centre.

The main consideration will be the huge rental savings involved in moving to the two adjoining blocks which mark the final phase of a €100 million office and apartment scheme along James Joyce Street. The stunning development has been carried out by Dublin businessmen Joe and Patrick Linders who were also involved in the consortium that has just completed the large residential, office and retail scheme at Smithfield.

The first part of the new Linders development, Colville House, attracted Bank of Ireland from the IFSC and, with rents in the docks area rising faster than in most other parts of the city, there are already a number of inquiries from firms based there for alternative accommodation in the new scheme on the edge of the IFSC.

Declan O'Reilly of HT Meagher O'Reilly, who is handling the letting and/or sale of Bloom House and the letting of the Metropolitan Building, says the savings for IFSC companies can be quite substantial - €376 per sq m (€35 per sq ft) compared to €538 per sq m (€50 per sq ft) in the docks area. Service charges in the new buildings are likely to be €53-€75 per sq m (€5-€7 per sq ft) compared to €161-€215 per sq m (€15-€20 per sq ft) in the IFSC. DTZ Sherry FitzGerald are joint agents. Bank of Ireland's decision to move around the corner to avail of the cheaper rents has already set a trend which will be followed by others keen to keep costs down. The Linders could turn out to be the main beneficiary. It is one of the most attractive new developments in the inner city and was designed by Anthony Reddy Associates.

For interested companies, it has the advantages of a higher than usual ratio of car-parking for a city centre site. Even more importantly, it is located beside Dublin's main transport hub - the Dart and the Luas, Busáras and Connolly Station.

The Metropolitan Building has 9,800sq m (105,487sq ft) of offices over a double basement with 101 car-parking spaces. The block is finished in precast concrete panels incorporating Jura limestone with recessed Zimbabwe block flamed granite bands. There is a full height curtain walling to the ground floor and a curved copper clad wall dividing the office in two, underlining the flexibility to utilise the building as a multi-tenanted office block.

Bloom House, which overlooks a children's park, has a floor area of 5,235sq m (56,350sq ft) and 30 car-parking spaces. With many companies now opting to buy rather than rent their headquarters buildings because of low mortgage rates, the developers are to offer Bloom House either to rent or buy.

The other incentive for those interested in buying - the asking price of €36 million equates to €7,535 per sq m (€700 per sq ft) - is that the building comes with substantial capital allowances. A glance at the political landscape will show that these incentives will inevitably disappear in the not too distant future.

The overall Linders scheme, which includes 185 apartments and 24,154sq m (260,000sq ft) of offices, will be seen as one of the main anchors in the rejuvenation of the fast-changing north-east inner city area.

Dublin City Council's enthusiastic support has already changed the face of this once rundown part of the city. Other schemes which have also contributed to the regeneration include the building of the Bord Gáis headquarters, Independent Newspapers block, the Steelworks and the Arts Centre.

The Linders scheme extends beyond the offices and apartments now completed along James Joyce Street. The two brothers also developed the headquarters of St Vincent de Paul on a site which previously housed low density and poor quality offices for the society.

St Vincent de Paul now has an impressive five-storey over basement building providing 1,800sq m (19,375sq ft) of offices, retail facilities and warehousing. Anthony Reddy of Anthony Reddy Associates says it is now an intrinsic part of a development "which has achieved high density, high quality buildings on a confined site".

It has also brought good quality commercial, residential and retail activity to an area which once seemed doomed to failure.