Strong pre-letting activity helped drive the Dublin office market to 1.8M SF of take-up in the first half of 2018, according to research from Murphy Mulhall.

The agency said the market is set for a record-breaking year if take-up continues at current levels.

“We have seen significant pre-letting activity from the start of 2018 and there is more on the horizon,” Murphy Mulhall Managing Director James Mulhall said. “If all the prospective pre-lettings happen, it will be another bumper year.”

The agency reports the biggest deals of the first half included LinkedIn signing up to 152,500 SF at Iput’s One Wilton Place. Work is due to start on-site later this year.

In another huge deal, IDA Ireland agreed to pre-let 112K SF at Three Park Place on Hatch Street Upper, which is being developed by Clancourt.

WeWork, meanwhile, has pre-let 99,500 SF at No.2 Dublin Landings and 74K SF at Central Plaza on Dame Street.

These pre-lets account for four of the top five deals overall in the first half of the year, according to Murphy Mulhall. The fifth — and the largest — was Google’s €300M acquisition of still-to-be completed Bolands Quay, which will comprise 221K SF of office space.