Galway County Council has given the Marine Institute planning approval for new headquarters at Oranmore, Co Galway.
More than 140 staff will be redeployed, mainly from Dublin, to the new headquarters, and the estimated benefit to the city will be €17 million annually. The site at Rinville will be close to high-quality salt water for laboratory research.
Work is expected to start on the 11,000 square metre building this November, finishing in 2004, and the Office of Public Works (OPW) has incorporated "bioclimatic" and sustainable design in the architectural plans. The OPW team was involved in the Green Design Manual for Ireland, which was funded by the energy directorate of the European Commission.
Natural materials such as limestone and timber are to be used, and the laboratory will be designed around a landscaped courtyard, while the support facilities will take a curved shape, reflecting the "swirling dynamics of water".
There will be additional tree-planting, as it is close to existing woodland.
The site was owned by Bord Iascaigh Mhara as a base for a 93-metre marine navigation mast and adjoining station. The terrestrial system has been replaced by satellite technology .
A voluntary environmental impact assessment was submitted as part of the planning application, lodged last March.
The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern, viewed the plans last week and said he was committed to continued progress on the national marine research centre.
In a separate development, a marine weather buoy, which is aimed at improving forecasting, has been deployed off the south-west coast .
The data buoy was deployed 31 miles off Mizen Head, Co Cork, late last week by the State's research vessel, Celtic Voyager.
It is the third in a network being developed by the Marine Institute and Met Éireann.
Crucial observations of wind speed, direction and gusts, air and sea surface temperature, wave height and atmospheric pressure will be updated every hour by the buoy.
The first two data buoys are located west of the Aran islands, Co Galway, and east of Lambay island in the Irish Sea.