Full planning permission has been granted to the Office of Public Works (OPW) for a new decentralised headquarters building on a greenfield site in Trim, Co Meath.
There was no appeal against the decisions by Meath County Council and Trim Town Council to approve the project, which is estimated to cost about €30 million.
The OPW has selected Mullingar-based Bennett Construction Ltd as the preferred tenderer on a client-led, design-build basis, and it is anticipated that a contract will be signed before the forthcoming general election.
The four-storey building, which has been designed by an OPW architectural team headed by Pat Boyle, has a circular plan with a full-height atrium and a civic plaza in front. It will be naturally ventilated for environmental reasons.
The brief for an in-house architectural competition among OPW architects in 2004 required that the building would be "an exemplar of all that is best in modern office design environments and sustainable building techniques".
Mr Boyle said the strong simple circular form was used as a design key because it recalled iconic structures built in the landscape of Co Meath - notably the megalithic monuments of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth in the Boyne Valley.
Minister of State for Finance Tom Parlon said he was pleased planning permission had been granted for "this unique building" and he looked forward to construction works starting over the coming weeks.
He said the site, in a designated town expansion area just outside the medieval town wall, would be serviced by new access roads. "When completed, it will add greatly to the distinct heritage, look and feel that Trim currently offers," he added.
Although the 8,300sq m (89,340sq ft) building has been designed for 330 staff, only 112 administrative personnel and 64 professional and technical staff - such as architects and engineers - have signed up to relocate to Trim.
An OPW spokesman said a further 58 administrative staff would come from other Government departments under the decentralisation programme. However, many professional and technical staff are likely to remain in Dublin.
Although some of the OPW's staff had already bought homes in Trim, in the expectation of relocating to the new headquarters, the spokesman conceded that a "significant number" would probably commute from Dublin.
Given the relative paucity of bus services, he said that most were likely to travel to Trim by car.
For many, this would involve switching from public transport thereby adding to carbon dioxide emissions.
