Home > Ireland > Taoiseach officially opens Microsoft’s new €134m campus

Taoiseach officially opens Microsoft’s new €134m campus

Written by Robert McHugh, on 22nd Feb 2018. Posted in Ireland

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Microsoft Ireland have officialy opened the company’s new 34,000sqm campus, One Microsoft Place, in Leopardstown, Co. Dublin.

This new work space facilitates team members from different parts of the business, with a diverse range of skill sets and roles, to come together as ‘One Microsoft’ to work together on behalf of local and global customers.

The new campus aims to provide an environment that will drive further innovation and creativity by the Microsoft team on behalf of businesses, governments, non-profit organisations and society as a whole. 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. 

Microsoft say this is central to the company’s continued cultural change programme which, under CEO, Satya Nadella, aims to bring everyone in the company together to work on a common mission – helping every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more.

As part of the development of the new campus, Microsoft Ireland invested over €5m in the creation of a dedicated innovation and education hub, DreamSpace, with a supporting digital skills programme.

Microsoft 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. 

The building 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 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.

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.

Microsoft employees are already making use of the different rooms, open spaces and relaxation areas to work together formally and informally to solve and anticipate customer challenges. People 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.

Speaking at the opening of the building, Executive Vice President at Microsoft, Peggy Johnson 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. 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." 

Commenting at the launch event the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD added, "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. As a flagship multinational investor, Microsoft has strongly endorsed Ireland as an investment location for the world’s top tech firms."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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