The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland is to proceed with the development of a £30 million office block on a site at the rear of St Stephen's Green, in Dublin 2. Full planning permission has been granted for the 130,000 sq ft building, which is due to be completed by December, 2001.

The six-storey over basement building will occupy an island site with frontage on to a partially completed new street running from Mercer Street to Aungier Street. The college plans to fund the development from borrowings and to rent the building on a long-term basis. The Finnegan Menton agency, which is adviser to the college, has been instructed to pre-let the building which will have a nett floor area of 100,000 sq ft and 44 car-parking spaces in the basement.

Barry O'Brien of the college said that any income from the office investment would be used to fund medical training in an era of free higher education. The college is also currently spending £10 million on a research and educational facility for its students in the grounds of Beaumont Hospital. With about three-quarters of the places in the college occupied by foreign students, the college estimates that it generates around £20 million annually in foreign earnings.

Three years ago, the college acquired the ABN Amro building on St Stephen's Green for £4.5 million and subsequently let it to Lucent Technologies. It has also built a large car-park which is linked in to the St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre.