The former warehouse buildings that will house Airbnb’s new European headquarters at Hanover Quay in Dublin are to be sold through Savills for more than €30m.

The buildings at 8 Hanover Quay are being developed within a warehouse and will be leased by Airbnb for more than 20 years.

The construction, the first in the south docklands since the area was designated a Strategic Development Zone, will reflect the site’s heritage as a warehouse and will stand out from the other high-rise and glass buildings in the area that house other internet giants like Google and Facebook.

According to The Irish Times, at a valuation of €30m the capital value of the site is €8,395 per square metre.

Airbnb Inc, Airbnb Ireland’s parent company, has guaranteed a 20-year lease of the two-storey, over-basement waterfront building, which will extend to 3,574 square metres and will include spaces for 44 bicycles.

The office building will become the European headquarters of Airbnb and rent works out at €1.4m a year, rising to €1.7m by 2021.

The move comes hot on the heels of Twitter signing a lease for a new 85,000 sq ft premises that it is subletting from Hibernia REIT plc for €5m a year.

A unicorn with a €25bn valuation, Airbnb – which now employs 200 people in Dublin – has come a long way from its humble origins only a few years ago.

The company was founded in 2008 by a group of friends in San Francisco — Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia — who had no money and wanted to establish a B&B but all they had was an air mattress.

And thus, Airbnb was born.