Mark Stedman / Photocall Mark Stedman / Photocall / Photocall

THE PAST WEEK has seen people around the country giving some thought to home improvement.

Specifically, people have been looking for ways to adapt their homes to cut down on the new water charges. To avoid paying the full bill – people are getting private wells drilled. There has also been a notable upturn in the sale of water butts.

In the commercial sector, rents on offices in Dublin have kept on rising – with the cost of leasing in central areas hitting its highest level since 2007.

The Big Movers

Well, well, well 

Ahead of the first round of water bills being issued in January – there has been a bit of a rush of people trying to install wells onto their properties.

Well-drilling companies are reporting surges in business by people looking to avoid the charges.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie this week, Eimear Briody from Tom Briody and Son, a drilling company in Meath said, “People are now looking for independent supplies for their residential homes or farms, or people who are on the mains are looking to get off it.”

For a lot of people – the machinery used to drill the hole is too large to get onto their property, making the drilling of a well impossible.

Office leasings on the rise

A new report from DMZ Sherry Fitzgerald on office leasings in central Dublin show that growth in the sector has seen rents rise to to their highest levels since 2007.

So far in 2014 there has been a 33% growth. This has stemmed from a shortage of space in the capital’s centre.

office office

In Dublin, demand for space remains focused in the central business district (CBD). Out of the overall take-up in Dublin, 47% is focused on this CBD area, as reported in The Irish Times.

The growing demand for space in the CBD has not been matched by construction and development – indicating that prices can be expected to keep on rising.

Going up?

At this point, demand on rentals in Dublin has been at a crisis level for a while.  

Could the potential solution to this problem be the introduction of more high-rise structures in the capital? There are some concerns about this as an initiative due to social problems related to high-density urban areas.

Dave O’Conner, lecturer in planning at Dublin Institute of Technology, has stated that there is not necessarily a correlation between density and high-rise structures – and potential issues could be avoided.

Under construction 

• Beyond drilling wells – people have also taken to installing water butts into their homes. The rudimentary devices, which are attached to a house’s downpipe and allow homeowners to collect rainwater, have seen a surge in sales. 
• While new mortgage lending restrictions from the Central Bank are aimed at stopping another property bubble – saving for a house has become a whole lot more difficult.
• Frustrated by the rental market? Here are a few things that need to be changed. 
• The owners of Bulmers are planning a big raid on the English pub market to get them to drink more Irish cider. The move could see owners the C & C group buy up the Spirit group – which would see them acquire 1,200 new pubs. 
• New bye-laws are in the works that could see buskers banned from Temple Bar in the centre of Dublin. While objecting to overly-loud busking – property owners in the area have expressed concern about a complete ban.
• As the construction industry rumbles back to life – it seems there are a few unintended side-effects. Disturbances caused by new building projects are seeing rats coming up from the country’s sewers and drains. 

Des res 

This week Hollywood action hero Bruce Willis has bought up 14 acres of land just over an hour outside of New York City. Business Insider reports the new 8,000 sq.ft. home is set in a neighborhood that includes properties owned by Michael Douglas, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.