Rents of over £40 (€50.79) per sq ft are being quoted for individual floors in Dublin's former Harcourt Street Hospital, where work has begun on a major extension at the rear. The old and the new buildings will have a combined floor area of 52,000 sq ft ready for fit-out at the end of the year.

The hospital was bought three years ago for slightly over £6 million by a consortium of Dublin developers comprised of the McCormack family, John Flynn, Pat Ryan, Phil Monaghan and Paddy Kelly.

The six-storey extension, designed by Arthur Gibney & Partners, will have 42,000 sq ft of high quality space. A further 10,000 sq ft in two Georgian buildings will be upgraded and linked in to the new block by a spectacular six-storey glazed atrium. The high spec finish will include air conditioning.

Declan O'Reilly of letting agent DTZ Sherry FitzGerald says that while the buildings would make a first class headquarters, they will also be offering them for letting on a floor by floor basis, with space ranging from 7,500 sq ft.

Although there is a degree of uncertainty about office lettings in the Dublin suburbs, the city centre market remains strong because of the scarcity of newly developed space.