Google Ireland has secured the green light for an office scheme that will establish a new company campus at Grand Canal Street Lower in Dublin to accommodate 1,700 workers.
This follows Dublin City Council’s granting of planning permission to Google Ireland to increase the height of the Treasury Building on Grand Canal Street from six to eight storeys in an office scheme named Boland’s Bakery. The building was previously home to the National Treasury Management Agency.
The extended building will accommodate 1,100 workers while the nearby Johnny Ronan-owned Annex building will accommodate another 600 for Google.
Mr Ronan's Ashleam Ltd last year secured permission to increase the height for the Annex building to eight storeys as part of the Google office campus.
The grant of permission to Google Ireland comes almost two years after the US tech giant purchased the Treasury Building for €120 million from Johnny Ronan, Paddy McKillen and Percy Nominees.
The redevelopment of the Treasury Building will provide an additional 7,802sq m of office floor space in that block. Google already operates from a number of building in the vicinity.
Boland’s Bakery
Concerning the Boland’s Bakery redevelopment, consultants for Google Ireland told the council that “while the future landscape of workplaces is uncertain, Google Ireland is fully committed to this exemplar redevelopment that re-uses the old, imagines the new and seeks to set the standard for future offices in Ireland”.
Google has its European Middle East and Africa headquarters here, employing more than 8,000 workers.
The council gave the Boland’s Bakery scheme the go-ahead after receiving an enthusiastic endorsement from its planner in the case. The planner’s report stated that the Google proposal would “upgrade one of the most prominent locations in the city and contribute to the animation and vitality of this large building which is proximate to public transport and other amenities”.
The report also stated that the scheme was “likely to make a positive contribution to the place making and public spaces surrounding the site by providing for a new active street frontage to Grand Canal St Lower”.
The scheme received approval despite an objection from Clanwilliam Management CLG, which argued that the proposed eight-storey height of the Treasury Building would represent an ”overdevelopment of the site, which would have an overbearing effect upon the occupants of Clanwilliam Square”.
Planning consultants Downey Planning, for Clanwilliam Management, told the city council that the planned scheme “would not be acceptable in its current form”.
