The Central Bank is expected to submit a planning application for its new headquarters, which will cost an estimated €140 million, within days.
The bank plans to include a fine mesh facade made of anodised metal on the exterior of the building that was originally intended as a new headquarters for Anglo Irish Bank.
John Mulcahy, head of asset management at Nama, described the existing Anglo shell along Dublin’s river Liffey last September as like “a burnt-out tank on the road to Kuwait”.
The cost of the Central Bank’s new highly-designed exterior will reduce its annual running costs and give it a building energy rating of A2, making it one of the most energy efficient in the State.
The Central Bank will include a central concourse making parts of its ground floor accessible to the public following discussions with Ali Grehan, the chief architect with Dublin City Council.
The 22,500sq m Docklands building is designed by Henry J Lyons and is intended to complement the Criminal Courts of Justice building further along the Liffey, which was also designed by the Irish architects.
It is also inspired by 41 Cooper Square, an award-winning energy-efficient university building designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architecture in New York’s East Village.
Consulting engineers O’Connor Sutton Cronin and structural engineers Aecom are also working on the project with planners Tom Phillips Associates.
The bank is currently working on appointing a main contractor to oversee the building, and appointing a specialist firm to construct its facade in a competitive public procurement process.
Construction of the building, which is intended to begin in the last quarter of this year, will create 350 jobs until its target completion date in 2016.
The arrival of the Central Bank will boost surrounding development site values for Nama, which owns land around it that is capable of holding four more major buildings.
The site was originally owned by developer Liam Carroll, who had planned to build a new financial services hub anchored by Anglo.
Denis O’Brien, the billionaire telecoms entrepreneur, has been rumoured to be looking to buy land near the Central Bank to house a new centre for marine finance.
The Central Bank will ultimately locate 1,400 staff at its new headquarters from three different sites, including its iconic current headquarters in Dublin’s Temple Bar. The bank owns three buildings on Dame Street, which could fetch over €40 million if sold.
Potential new uses for its Dame Street location include turning it into a hotel, using it as commercial office space or making it a hub for multinational technology companies.
