AtkinsRéalis’ newly refurbished Dublin headquarters demonstrates how strategic facilities management can help organisations accommodate rapid workforce growth while creating a flexible, efficient and employee-focused Irish workplace.

The new AtkinsRéalis House at Airside Business Park in Swords supports more than 300 employees and represents a multi-million-euro investment following several years of expansion in Ireland. Manufacturing Management reported on the official opening, attended by Minister for Transport and Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O’Brien.

For facilities management professionals, the project illustrates a shift from simply maintaining office buildings towards actively designing workplaces around organisational capacity and operational needs.

The approximately 1,291m² headquarters incorporates open-plan office areas, meeting rooms, breakout spaces, tea stations and multifunctional workspaces. These features provide flexibility as teams, working patterns and business requirements change.

The refurbishment also upgraded workplace infrastructure and building services, alongside welfare and accessibility provisions. Such investment can help align the physical workplace with occupancy requirements while supporting reliable building performance, maintenance planning and employee experience.

AtkinsRéalis is a global engineering and infrastructure consultancy with more than 50 years of operations in Ireland. Its Irish network includes offices in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Dundalk, with services spanning engineering, project management, design and consultancy.

The headquarters investment comes during significant workforce expansion. AtkinsRéalis announced in 2024 that it planned to grow its Irish workforce from around 370 employees to approximately 1,000 by 2030. Following the acquisition of Galway-based engineering and project management consultancy TOBIN, its Irish team has grown to more than 750 employees. AtkinsRéalis confirmed the acquisition added approximately 200 employees.

That growth puts practical pressure on corporate estates. More employees require carefully planned capacity, reliable building services, appropriate welfare provision, efficient cleaning and maintenance regimes, accessible facilities and spaces that can accommodate different forms of collaboration.

The headquarters also supports teams working on major national programmes, including DART+, Dublin’s Metrolink, Transport Infrastructure Ireland road schemes, Uisce Éireann’s Water Supply Project, Dublin Airport infrastructure and renewable-energy developments.

For FM teams, the lesson is straightforward: workplace capacity needs to scale alongside business capacity. Investing in adaptable space and resilient building infrastructure can help organisations absorb workforce growth without allowing facilities to become an operational constraint.

For the sector, AtkinsRéalis House shows how facilities management can function as a strategic business enabler, aligning workplace capacity, building performance and employee needs with long-term organisational growth.

Source: Manufacturing Management / AtkinsRéalis