Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, Eric Boustouller, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Western Europe, and Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director at Microsoft Ireland, marked the start of construction of Microsoft’s new state of the art campus facility. The ground-breaking ceremony took place in South County Business Park, Leopardstown.

They were joined by Martin Shanahan, CEO of the IDA and Mark Redmond, Chief Executive at the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland. Local elected officials and representatives of the business community also celebrated the milestone at a reception marking Microsoft’s 30th year in Ireland.

The new campus, which will be home to Microsoft’s 1,200-strong team in Ireland, represents an investment of €134m. For the first time, all of Microsoft’s operations will come together under one roof with teams representing finance, operations, sales, R&D, development and engineering, all working together from the same location for the first time. Having all groups in the same building will make it easier for diverse teams to work closely together, improving collaboration and innovation from the Irish based teams.

Speaking today, Minister Bruton noted that Microsoft’s new campus is an important step towards securing a highly innovative future for the company in Ireland.

“Technology is an area we have specifically targeted as part of our Action Plan for jobs and we have put in place a range of measures to support growth in this area. Microsoft was one of the first US companies to choose Ireland as a location for its EMEA operations. And its decision in recent years to locate its European Data Centre in Ireland is very welcome and been a great boost to the area. Microsoft’s leadership in areas such as cloud services and its prioritisation of security and privacy for users’ data is something that we welcome. Its approach to these areas and the leadership shown from Ireland is contributing to Ireland’s enhanced reputation abroad as a location of choice for the ICT industry.”

Eric Boustouller added, “In 30 years, we have grown our Irish footprint from a small manufacturing operation with 100 employees to an EMEA Centre of Excellence with 1,200 highly skilled team members. We anticipate our new campus will be a place of innovation and collaboration, critical to supporting our company’s vision to help every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. The support of the Irish Government, its agencies, the business community and the local community have been instrumental in bringing us to this point, and we look forward to a continued strategic cooperation for many years to come. ”

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The new campus, which is being built by BAM Contractors, will widely deploy the latest Microsoft technology. Delivering intelligent Cloud platforms is central to the company’s support of businesses of all sizes and across all sectors, and the new campus will see Microsoft utilise the latest Cloud technologies across its operations.

Construction of the innovative campus building will take place over 92 weeks and the project will support up to 2,100 jobs locally and regionally over that period. The development, which will accommodate up the 2,300 staff at full capacity, comprises 35,000m2 office accommodation over five floors and almost 14,000m2 basement over two floors – the equivalent of nearly seven football pitches of internal space.

“We are delighted to be awarded this large campus style project for Microsoft. This project is Microsoft’s largest construction project for years to come and their first major owned asset within their global portfolio. BAM Ireland has completed some of the largest construction projects ever undertaken in the Irish market, for both public and private clients. This project, which will deliver a new flexible and agile facility for Microsoft in 2017, will also showcase to a worldwide audience the talent and capabilities that we in Ireland have to offer,” said Theo Cullinane, BAM Ireland CEO.

“While activity has picked up in the office sector, there has been little office building activity over the past few years, with a shortage of quality space particularly in Dublin and Cork. International companies are looking for energy efficient, open design, innovative office space and BAM has particular expertise in this area, having completed a number of similar projects in the past.”

The sod turning took place today on the site of the new campus – a wooded setting backing on to Leopardstown racecourse. A running and walking trail is being created around the perimeter of the site, while rooftop terraces will overlook a landscape filled with greenery and bordered by mountains.

Speaking at the ceremony, Cathriona Hallahan, Microsoft Ireland said: “This campus is all about the future – it’s about helping our people to come together in an environment that is conducive to learning and which will serve as a testbed for new ideas. We think the campus will change perceptions of what a ‘workplace’ is – from its nature-rich setting to the cutting-edge technology that is informing its design. Our team members will enjoy a totally new experience, while our customers will see the benefits in the level of invention generated in the solutions we provide.”

The total floor area of the new building will be c. 34, 554 sqm over a basement of c. 13, 738 sqm. The site is just under 3 hectares (2.976.)

In addition to making capital investments over 30 years the company has also provided an estimated €30m of support to charities and non-profit organisations in Ireland through the provision of software, financial grants and expertise from employee volunteers.