Image: Taylor Architects

Building work is set to start on the new building after the Minister for Education and Science Batt O'Keeffe approved the contract for the project this week. The new 14,000sq/m facility, which is expected to be finished in early 2011, will accommodate 1,100 students. Designed by award-winning architects RMJM (Scotland) in partnership with Taylor Architects of Castlebar, Co Mayo, the new engineering building will be located to the north of the Quincentennial Bridge. It's expected that up to 300 people will be employed during the peak construction period. Announcing the move, Minister O'Keeffe said: “The new facility will centralise all the engineering disciplines from across NUIG's campus into a single state-of-the-art building. “This concentration of expertise and the modern lecture halls, laboratories and equipment will improve the course quality and enhance synergies. "It'll boost the number of highly skilled graduates in the sector and broaden Ireland's appeal domestically and internationally as a location for the study and research of engineering. “When the project is finished in 2011, it'll stand as a major Government-sponsored investment in the development and modernisation of facilities in NUI Galway.” The new engineering building will be financed through a combination of exchequer funding under the National Development Plan, resources raised by NUI Galway through the sale of property, and donor funding.