Bridging the Investment Gap: Financing Dublin’s CRE Future

Strategies for Attracting Capital and Competing on the Global Stage

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  Colin MacDonald

  Colin began his career as an International Manager with HSBC in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Bahrain before spending three years working with Far East Organization, Singapore’s largest private real estate developer. During that time, Colin managed the development and restoration of the historic 5-star Fullerton Hotel. Colin went on to found McCraic Group in Singapore, identifying, leasing and refurbishing historic properties as successful bar and restaurant venues. This venture culminated in the successful trade sale of the group in 2009. He founded Fine Grain Property in 2007, and drove the company’s growth in Singapore and Ireland. He is particularly proud of Fine Grain’s ability to drive investment returns by delivering great workplace communities for clients.

  Fine Grain Property

  Founder and CEO

  Colin MacDonald

  Founder and CEO

  Fine Grain Property

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  Shane Scully

  Shane Scully is Eagle Street’s Founder and CEO and founded the business with Justin Bickle in December 2020. Shane started his career as a Surveyor with JLL and then spent 12 years at Bennett Property Limited sourcing developments in Ireland and the UK and overseeing the management of large mixed-use portfolios, in addition to being Asset Advisor to TIO ICAV where he delivered a number of flagship prime office developments in Dublin’s Docklands. Shane joined Glenveagh Properties PLC in 2017 at inception where he was Managing Director and Chief Development Officer at Glenveagh Living, focused on creating Glenveagh’s PRS business and a member of the Executive Committee, prior to founding Eagle Street with Justin.

  Eagle Street Partners

  Founder and CEO

  Shane Scully

  Founder and CEO

  Eagle Street Partners

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  Daniel Lockley

  Daniel Lockley is a Partner and leads Deloitte’s Real Estate - Debt and Capital Advisory team, bringing c.15 years of corporate finance and real estate experience. Since joining Deloitte in 2014, Daniel has been an advisor to numerous leading property development and investment groups in Ireland, raising over €1.5bn p.a. Daniel has extensive expertise in structuring, arranging, and raising capital (both debt and equity) for real estate development and investment portfolios. He is also an advisor to Local Authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and State Sponsored Bodies.

  Deloitte

  Partner - Real Estate - Debt & Capital Advisory

  Daniel Lockley

  Partner - Real Estate - Debt & Capital Advisory

  Deloitte

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  Ronan Lyons

  I am an Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin, where my primary research areas are housing markets, urban economics, and economic history. I am particularly interested in long-run housing markets, in order to better understand current housing experiences such as rapidly increasing housing costs in many high-income cities. You can find out more about my research either here or at my profiles on RePEc or Google Scholar. In addition, I am a Research Associate at the Spatial Economics Research Centre in LSE and author of the Daft.ie Reports on Ireland’s sale and rental housing markets. I am also a Board member of the HEA, Honorary Secretary of SSISI, and on the organising committee of DEW. I am an active contributor to the policy debate, especially on the topic housing in Ireland. Most of the articles I publish either in my weekly column for the Sunday Independent or as commentaries for the Daft.ie Report are subsequently archived here. I am also engaged by a number of organisations each year, private and public, for public speaking or for bespoke consultancy. If that is of interest, please contact me. Students looking for materials relating to modules I teach should look for the relevant module on mymodule.tcd.ie. With the Trinity Online Education team, I also run an online course in the Economics of the Property Market. The course is aimed both at professionals, including policymakers, who work day-to-day with housing but who may not have the economics background, and at the general public.

  Trinity College Dublin

  Author of the Daft.ie reports

  Ronan Lyons

  Author of the Daft.ie reports

  Trinity College Dublin

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  Emily Mac Nicholas

  Emily advises on all aspects of the acquisition, disposal, leasing and financing of commercial property. She has quickly developed an impressively strong and diverse client portfolio as well as the respect of clients, estate agents and other key players in the real estate industry in Ireland. She advises a broad range of clients including investors, insolvency practitioners, multi-national corporations, statutory bodies, financial institutions and charitable bodies. Emily also provides specialist advice to the corporate, banking, litigation and insolvency teams.

  McCann FitzGerald LLP

  Partner

  Moderator

  Emily Mac Nicholas

  Partner

  McCann FitzGerald LLP

Sector in Focus: Retail’s Reinvention in Ireland

Challenges and Opportunities in a Transforming Landscape

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  Suzie Nolan

  Suzie Nolan is Head of Property at Aviva Life and Pensions Ireland DAC. She is an award-winning property fund manager, taking home the Women in Finance Fund Manager of the Year award in 2019, and with the property fund itself receiving numerous accolades, both locally and internationally. She is responsible for Aviva’s €620m commercial property fund, overseeing portfolio strategy, performance, liquidity and governance. Suzie has worked in property investment for 16 years, managing property funds with holdings in Ireland, the UK, Europe and America. Prior to working in property, Suzie was an auditor with KPMG. In September 2022, Suzie was ranked 10 th in the Global Heroes Top 100 Future Leaders List. She is co-Chair of Aviva’s Gender Balance Committee, an active participant on Aviva’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and is the Company’s Council Member of the 30% Club.

  Aviva Ireland

  Head of Property

  Suzie Nolan

  Head of Property

  Aviva Ireland

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  Anders Hemmingsen

  Mr. Hemmingsen is a Managing Director and member of the European Investment Team with a focus on real estate. Prior to joining SVP, Mr. Hemmingsen was at Deutsche Bank, where he was head of CRE Special Situations Europe, a team focused on commercial real estate and distressed debt. Prior to that, Mr. Hemmingsen held various positions at HSBC in real estate finance and investment banking.

  SVPGlobal

  Managing Director, Commercial Real Estate

  Anders Hemmingsen

  Managing Director, Commercial Real Estate

  SVPGlobal

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  Marcus Wren

  Marcus is co-founder and Managing Director of Sigma Retail Partners which was established in 2015. Since then, Marcus and his team have grown the company to be the leading provider of retail asset management services in Ireland with over €0.5bn of assets under management and growing.

  Sigma Retail Partners

  Managing Director

  Marcus Wren

  Managing Director

  Sigma Retail Partners

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  Karl Stewart

  Karl boasts over 25 years of experience in the commercial property market and has led the Retail team at Cushman & Wakefield for the past 20 years. An Acknowledged expert in the delivery of Major Retail Developments across Ireland, Karl possesses class leading knowledge of the Irish Retail Market. Karl has represented numerous high profile Irish and International retailers over the years, offering a particular expertise for those aiming to enter the Irish market or expand their presence at scale across the country. Karl also has extensive experience in providing both Private and Institutional Landlords with strategic advice on Leasing and Portfolio Asset Management.

  Cushman & Wakefield

  Director & Head of Retail Ireland

  Karl Stewart

  Director & Head of Retail Ireland

  Cushman & Wakefield

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  Diarmuid Mawe

  Diarmuid is head of the Dublin Commercial Property team at Maples and Calder, the Maples Group’s law firm. Diarmuid advises on all types of commercial property transactions. He has extensive experience counselling private equity and institutional investors on all property law aspects involved in the acquisition, management and disposal of real estate assets and loan portfolios. Diarmuid also specialises in commercial landlord and tenant law, advising some of the country’s largest landlords and tenants on their commercial property portfolios. He has many years of experience advising leading private equity and institutional clients on their respective property portfolios across all industry sectors including office, retail, logistics and PRS. Diarmuid is also an accountant and previously worked in industry for a number of years with both Kerry Group plc and Philips Electronics BV.

  Maples Group

  Partner

  Moderator

  Diarmuid Mawe

  Partner

  Maples Group

Advancing Development and Design in Dublin

Turning Challenges into Opportunities in Dublin’s Development Market

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  Ciarán McIntyre

  Ciarán is head of Real Estate and co-founder of Elkstone. With over 25 years’ experience in Real Estate, he has developed deep expertise in all aspects from planning & construction to banking & law. He is involved in sourcing and leading property and Proptech opportunities right through to the delivery of developments. Ciarán is a graduate in law from Harvard Law School (LL.M) & Balliol College, Oxford (B.C.L.) where he was a Scatchard European Scholar.

  Elkstone

  Co-Founder & Head of Real Estate

  Ciarán McIntyre

  Co-Founder & Head of Real Estate

  Elkstone

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  Ward Frisby

  Senior Director, Development and Construction

  Greystar Ireland

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  Claire McDowell

  Claire is an asset manager at M7 Real Estate, where she specializes in industrial property. M7 is a leading pan-European commercial real estate company, focusing on industrial, retail warehousing, and office sectors. Prior to joining M7, Claire gained valuable experience as an investment agent with JLL and also worked in the residential sector. Over the course of her career, she has developed a broad skill set, with experience in valuations, office, retail, and property management. In addition to her professional work, Claire is the current Chairperson of the SCSI Nexus Committee, which aims to support individuals starting their careers in property. Through this role, she has been involved in initiatives such as school visits to promote the property industry and championing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the sector.

  M7 Real Estate

  Asset Manager

  Claire McDowell

  Asset Manager

  M7 Real Estate

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  Rob Keane

  Rob is the CEO and former MD of Reddy Architecture and Urbanism, a practice that works extensively with the private and public sector on Student Living. Rob is working with the committee reporting to the minister on cost-effective delivery of Student residences and is active in a review of the student residences guidelines for the Irish Market. In the last 5 years, Rob has been involved in the delivery of over 5,000 bedspaces in the Irish Market and recently completed UCD Village, a new concept in on-campus living.

  Reddy Architecture + Urbanism

  CEO

  Rob Keane

  CEO

  Reddy Architecture + Urbanism

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  David Porter

  David has been with Dowds Group for more than 30 years, playing a key role in transforming the company from a Northern Ireland building services specialist into a leading multidisciplinary construction firm across the UK and Ireland. His career path within the business came through the commercial side of the Building Services division before moving into a Group role and onto the Board. David drives the commercial strategy, championing business growth in revenue, profitability, and cash generation, and overseeing the Group Legal and Supply Chain functions. Dowds Group, in business for 48 years, excel in Construction, Building Services, Energy and Facilities Management. With 250 staff they have carried out prestigious projects in diverse sectors including pharma, logistics, healthcare, defence, education, commercial and decarbonisation.

  Dowds Group

  Group Commercial Director

  Moderator

  David Porter

  Group Commercial Director

  Dowds Group