The project comprises 7,000m² of office space over 3 floors above a semi-basement carpark. Siteworks included foul and storm drainage, a moat/attenuation pond, an elevated heliport and a 4m high secure boundary wall.
The building structure generally comprises 225 thick reinforced concrete flat slabs on 300 square reinforced concrete columns at 6m centres. The substructures comprise a raft foundation at semi-basement level. The principal offices to the front of the building are delineated by a change in structural grid to 12m x 6m. This area also houses a gallery or public space at ground level and an atrium and features a 5m cantilever at second floor level.
Structurally the building is conceived as four rectangular blocks housing the different functions of the department, joined together with lightweight linking structures. The spaces between the four blocks are filled with elevated gardens containing mature trees at ground floor level, two of which are formed using stainless steel gabion structures constructed from the basement.

Architect : Murray O’Laoire
Design Engineer : Eddie O’Donovan
When at PH McCarthy Consulting Engineers