Marlet has announced the appointment of BAM Ireland as the main contractor for the Shipping Office, a commercial development in the heart of the Silicon Docks, which received last month a €101m financing facility from Activate Capital.

Designed to an exceptionally high standard to achieve LEED & Wiredscore Platinum Certification, this development will comprise 177,000 sq ft of Grade A office space across eight storeys over double-basement, featuring gym and changing facilities, as well as ample bike and car parking spaces. The ground floor will consist of the development’s lobby and reception and offer 5,700 sq ft of retail space.

The adjacent protected structure, formerly home of the British and Irish Steam Packet company will be restored, with the ground floor being repurposed as a café, contributing to the growing sense of public realm between the Campshire buildings on the quays, while the upper floors and rear atrium will be converted into office space.

Construction of the development is underway, with piling for the building foundations already completed and works commencing this month on the double basement structure. The erection of the tower cranes as well as the basement floor slab of the central core, will be completed by Christmas.

The Shipping Office and neighbouring development One Lime Street – another Marlet scheme which will deliver 216 high-end apartments – are both due to be completed by Q3 2022.

The Shipping Office, like every other Marlet development, has been carefully designed to guarantee the health and safety of its occupants and will incorporate features such as a large entrance court and reception to avoid congestion at peak times, larger lifts to allow for social distancing as well as microbicidal paint applied on washroom and shared area walls, antibacterial door hardware, touch-free building access, and a top-of-the-range ventilation throughout the building.

Occupants will have access to multiple landscaped areas and green roofs populated by native vegetation and sustainably designed to be a natural habitat for flora and fauna within the city.

Pat Crean, Marlet CEO said: “We are delighted to begin the delivery of this state-of the art office development with BAM. The Shipping Office was designed with high-expectations occupiers in mind and its exceptional location will undoubtedly make it a new Dublin landmark”.

Since the acquisition of its first site in 2014, Marlet has grown to become one of Ireland’s largest independently owned property development companies. Over the last 6 years Marlet has sourced and acquired over €1bn of assets and built up an impressive and extremely diverse portfolio in Ireland for its investors. The portfolio includes major mixed-use developments, Build to Rent apartment schemes, student accommodation, hotels and aparthotels. With over 1.6 million sq ft already built, the company’s goal is to be at the forefront of the industry and reshape Dublin’s urban landscape.

Theo Cullinane, BAM Ireland CEO said: “We are delighted to be entrusted by Marlet yet again to deliver a high-profile project on what is the last remaining undeveloped riverside site in the South Docklands. The Shipping Office will utilise a lot of the same off-site prefabrication techniques being used to deliver Lime Street. Utilizing off-site construction will shorten the construction period and reduce the numbers on site to aid social distancing. The health and safety of our staff is our number one priority at BAM.”

Established in 1958, BAM Ireland is one of the country’s largest construction businesses. We employ 2,000 people directly and indirectly with a forecast turnover for 2019 of €603m. We are a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal BAM Group of the Netherlands, which has a turnover of €7.2 Billion and employs 19,500 people worldwide. BAM Ireland is the holding company for all BAM’s operating companies in Ireland. These include: BAM Building; BAM Civil; BAM Fit-out; BAM Property; BAM Housing; BAM PPP; BAM Facilities Management and BAM Rail. Together, these operating companies rank in the top 2 of major Irish construction companies. BAM Building has carried out projects of the largest scale for the most prestigious of clients. BAM Civil is the largest civil engineering contractor in Ireland. Projects include PPP motorway schemes, transportation, water & wastewater, marine, energy and rail projects.