Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD has officially opened Microsoft's 34,000sqm campus, One Microsoft Place, in Leopardstown, Co Dublin, at which Engineers Ireland director general Caroline Spillane was also in attendance. The building design has led to the creation of ‘neighbourhoods’, numerous open spaces and relaxation zones all of which provide endless opportunities for people to work, think, create and problem solve together. 
Lead designers for the building were RKD Architects and Gensler. Mace and CBRE provided project management services with BAM as the lead contractor working with its key MEP partner, Jones Engineering.
Digital lake with an LED waterfall flowing into it
The design and layout of the building has been based around the theme of mountains and lakes – at the centre of the atrium space is a wood carved mountain and a digital lake with an LED waterfall flowing into it.
The building creates a new standard in workplace design: this includes formal and informal work spaces; a range of facilities including a music room, a yoga pod, a gym, treatment rooms, a mother’s room, a pod cast room, a number of restaurants with varied cuisine types, hang out areas, play areas, relaxation rooms and the latest and greatest Microsoft technology.
All of this is complemented by views of the mountains, the race track, the sea and a walking trail around the perimeter of the building. Microsoft employees can choose to meet at the bleacher seating, can have quiet time in one of the many phone booths, or can have lunch at the beach cafe or Italian pizzeria before picking up a loaf of Microsoft bread baked daily by the in-house baker.
Fun building facts
• 34,000sqm campus (four floors), One Microsoft Place, in Leopardstown, Co Dublin
• 2,000 employees with 71 nationalities
• Height of the building atrium is equivalent to five Dublin buses sitting on top of each other
• The new campus has the floor space of four football pitches
• More than 125,000 LED lights have been used to create the digital Lake
• All desk power leaders laid out back-to-back would wrap around St Stephen’s Green five times
• Total IT cabling used in the building would stretch from Dublin to Dingle (350km)
• Combined height of all desks in the building is twice as high as Ireland’s tallest mountain (Carrauntoohil)
• 25,000 individual pieces of furniture have been collected from all four corners of the world for use in the building
• 265 trees planted
• Five restaurants – Chefs table, Italian Quarter, Street Kitchen, Forage and Gather and Pulse salad bar
• Microsoft bread maker on site
• Microsoft barista on site with two barista bars located around the building
“The opening of this campus is a landmark day for Microsoft, which first came to Ireland 33 years ago, and a testament to the calibre of our tech talent who have contributed so positively to Microsoft’s global growth," said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD. "As a flagship multinational investor, Microsoft has strongly endorsed Ireland as an investment location for the world’s top tech firms.
"The government is determined to ensure that Ireland continues to harness emerging technologies for social and economic benefit. We are aiming to be a European leader in STEM education by 2026 and our enterprise policy is based around supporting research and innovation.
"Ireland is now ranked 10th globally for the overall quality of its scientific research, an increase of 26 places in 13 years. With this focused and ambitious approach, I believe we can make Dublin the tech capital of Europe.”
'Technology rapidly changing how we live, work and play'
Peggy Johnson, executive vice-president, Microsoft, said: “Technology is rapidly changing how we live, work and play and Microsoft is a major force in driving this change. Working together as One Microsoft we are bringing our talents together to achieve more - for our customers, our partners and our own employees.
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"This wonderful new building creates the opportunity for the Irish based team to do more together by facilitating development, innovation and creativity. Our data scientists, AI bot builders and mixed reality game developers will work alongside our sales and marketing professionals to help bring the benefits of digital transformation to our customers, helping them to achieve more.”
Cathriona Hallahan, MD, Microsoft Ireland, said: “As part of the development of the new campus, we invested more than €5 million in the creation of a dedicated innovation and education hub, DreamSpace, with a supporting digital skills programme.
"We plan to bring 100,000 young people and their teachers to our campus over the next four years to give them an understanding of the transformational nature of technology, equip them with the digital skills they need to engage fully with technology and encourage them to use their imagination to create their own future.
“For those who have the privilege of working here every day, it will be an inspiring space - designed to meet professional and lifestyle needs. Combine all of the physical elements with the talented people that come in through the door every morning, bringing life into the physical space each day and this truly becomes one of the most inspiring places to work in the country.”
To get a glimpse of One Microsoft Place, please see:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/aboutireland or follow @MicrosoftIrl or #MicrosoftLifeIreland.