One of the world’s most prominent professional consultancy services is to open a new office in Cork, with the potential to more than double its workforce in the city.
Grant Thornton, the world’s seventh largest professional services network, currently employs around 105 people at its two Cork offices on South Mall, which first opened with a staff of three in 2013.
The company has now signed a lease for just under 12,000 feet of floor space on the penthouse floor overlooking the Lee from Penrose One, a new construction at Penrose Quay in the city’s docklands — one of three comprising the 250,000 sq ft (23,200sq m) €125m Penrose Dock by developer JCD.
Construction is expected to finish in the third quarter of 2020.
Mick McAteer, managing partner with Grant Thornton Ireland, said he was “delighted to announce the expansion and new home for our Cork offices today”.
“The development represents an exciting continuation of the growth of our business throughout Ireland, and is viewed as very favourable by our clients and employees in the South,” said Mr McAteer.
He said that when the firm’s Cork office opened six years ago, the target had been to take on board 25 staff in two years.
“Our new office accommodates more than 200 employees demonstrating how our growing client requirements and subsequently our growth has exceeded our expectations,” he said.
Cost of rental was not disclosed for commercial reasons. The Penrose One building itself is understood to have a build cost in the region of €60m.
The jobs to be created by the office-opening will be entirely new roles, Mr McAteer said, as opposed to internal transfers from the firm’s other offices in Dublin, Limerick, and Galway.
Grant Thornton currently employs 1,400 people across the island.
Irish Examiner By Cianan Brennan, Friday 25th October 2019