A direct-to-investor platform for Irish real estate and hospitality opportunities. Each deal structured with the right funding mechanism — EIIS, equity, or a combination of both. Backed by a proven development track record.
Built on decades of Irish real estate and software experience.
Silicon Docks is the answer to thirty years of questions about capital structure, investor relationships, and what it takes to survive when markets turn.
One of Ireland's largest Celtic Tiger developers. Over 3 million square feet of commercial space, 5,000+ homes, and 6,000+ hotel rooms — deals worth a combined €3 billion+. The model was traditional: acquire, develop, sell. Bank debt in first position. Exit to domestic buyers funded by the same credit cycle that built it all.
For over a decade, it worked. Then the Global Financial Crisis arrived — and everything it was built on stopped working at once.
When banks are in first position and the market turns, they own the assets — not you. Bank debt is callable at the worst possible moment.
Built to sell exclusively to local Irish buyers, funded by the same domestic credit pools. When the GFC froze credit, the buyers ceased to exist entirely. A single-channel exit strategy is not a strategy. It is a bet.
Simon Kelly spent the years after the crash rebuilding from first principles — founding RQTwo as an active asset manager focused on undervalued commercial buildings acquired below replacement cost. No bank debt on land. Income-generating assets from day one. RQTwo raised €70M+ in equity, primarily targeting the secondary Dublin office market.
Then WFH arrived and changed everything. The secondary office market — already the most exposed segment — collapsed. Assets that had made sense at acquisition were suddenly structurally impaired. The lesson was the same one Redquartz had taught a decade earlier, just in a different sector: concentration in the wrong asset class is not a risk. It is a trap.
RQTwo partnered with Blackbee Investments, a €180M retail fund that subsequently collapsed under regulatory scrutiny. Blackbee's failure was not RQTwo's failure — but it was RQTwo's problem. Never hand the investor relationship to someone else.
Every Silicon Docks deal is structured as an independent, ring-fenced SPV. If a deal faces difficulties, the problem stays inside that structure. Isolation is not caution. It is architecture.
Not a fund. Not a vehicle managed by a committee for an institution. A platform — where Irish investors access hand-picked hospitality and real estate deals directly, alongside a team with genuine capital at risk in every transaction. No layers. No distance between you and the people building it.
Zero bank debt on land. Founder co-investment in every deal. Independent SPVs. Cashflow-first assets taxed at 12.5%, not the 25% passive rent attracts. And EIIS structuring where qualifying investors can access up to 50% income tax relief.
Redquartz taught us that capital structure is everything. RQTwo taught us that the investor relationship is too important to hand to anyone else. Silicon Docks is the answer to both.
The principles that determine every deal we back — and every deal we walk away from.
One of Europe’s youngest capital cities. Growing to 2.6 million people by 2040. A concentrated, highly educated workforce generating real economic activity in a small geography. We don’t invest in Ireland broadly — we invest in Dublin specifically, because the fundamentals here are structural, not cyclical.
Dublin’s economy runs on US foreign direct investment and the corporate tax receipts that follow it. The world’s largest tech and pharma companies are headquartered here. That capital circulates through the city every day — creating demand for the hospitality, leisure, and commercial infrastructure we back.
Zero bank debt on land. Minimal senior debt across all deals. The Redquartz era taught us what happens when banks are in first position and markets turn. Silicon Docks operates on alternative capital structures — investors are never subordinate to a lender calling a loan at the worst possible moment.
We avoid sectors being structurally disrupted. We back experience — hotels, hospitality, leisure. As AI automates knowledge work, human time becomes more discretionary and more oriented toward physical, social experience. The demand for great hospitality doesn’t get automated away. It accelerates.
Residential development in Ireland is strangled by planning complexity, political interference, and construction cost inflation. We don’t play in that market. Every Silicon Docks deal is in sectors where we control the asset, the operation, and the returns — without dependence on planning permissions that may never arrive.
We structure deals as operating businesses, not passive ownership vehicles. Trading income is taxed at 12.5%. Passive rental income is taxed at 25% — before personal tax on extraction. The difference isn’t marginal. It’s the architecture of the return. We build businesses, not rent books.
Every deal is hand-picked, ring-fenced in its own SPV, and backed by the team's own capital. We don't bring you deals we haven't already committed to ourselves.
The Employment Investment Incentive Scheme is Ireland's most powerful tax relief for qualifying investments. Invest up to €1,000,000 annually and receive income tax relief of up to 50%.
