Anyone surprised by the scale of Irish architect Kevin Roche's design for the proposed National Conference Centre - currently embroiled in the planning process - might have been forewarned by another example of his innovative work: the headquarters of pharmaceutical company Merck Inc in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

The massive hexagonal-shaped building was effectively cut into a forest, a process that involved removing trees, preserving them in a nursery environment and replanting them when construction was finished. And you thought the Spencer Dock development sounded elaborate!