Google confirms lease of Velasco building to expand Dublin base

29 Nov 2017

Google’s Dublin office. Image: Lloyd Carr/Shutterstock

Google’s business in Ireland is growing, so the company is boosting its square footage to accommodate expansion.

Google yesterday (28 November) announced that its workforce has grown to 7,000, up by 1,000 since the company last made its Irish workforce figures public in June 2016.

300 more permanent staff members were added over the course of the last 12 months, with many of them migrating over from contract-based work. Google also announced that it has leased the Velasco building on Dublin’s Grand Canal to accommodate the growing Irish workforce.

The six-storey building is a stone’s throw away from the company’s existing EMEA headquarters building on Barrow Street, and the new addition will boost its space by 51,000 sq ft. It will be ready for use in 2018 once it is fully fitted out.

Google Cloud expansion

Fionnuala Meehan, head of Google in Ireland, explained that the company is also planning to develop a team to support its cloud business. “Across our business, we’ve seen continued growth in demand for our products and services and, here in Dublin, we have started to develop a team to support our cloud business. The Google Cloud Platform remains one of the fastest-growing businesses across Alphabet and we hope to benefit from that growth in Ireland, too,” Meehan said.

“I am delighted to announce that Gareth Morgan, vice-president, is leading Google’s cloud efforts in Dublin, which is a new VP role for our cloud organisation and will help ensure Dublin is considered for future cloud operations.

She concluded by saying: “This additional investment will ensure Google in Ireland stays ahead of the curve in helping our customers, our users and advertisers to continue to benefit from our products and services.”

Google has a long history here in Ireland, having opened its Dublin base in 2003 with just 100 employees.

From small beginnings a major industry hub was created, as the EU HQ is now Google’s biggest office outside of the US. The expansion into the Velasco building shows that there is still more room for the company to grow.

Google’s Dublin office. Image: Lloyd Carr/Shutterstock

Ellen Tannam was a journalist with Silicon Republic, covering all manner of business and tech subjects

editorial@siliconrepublic.com