Building work is set to start on a new €40m engineering building at the National University of Ireland, in Galway, creating up to 300 building jobs.

Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe approved the contract for the project last week.

The new 14,000sq/m facility, which is expected to be finished in early 2011, will accommodate 1,100 students.

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.

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"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.

"Investment of this nature is not granted lightly," said the Minister.

"Capital projects such as this one are subject to a rigorous assessment under the Government's capital appraisal guidelines.

"My department and the Higher Education Authority recognised the strategic national importance of this project and accepted the business case made by NUI Galway," said Mr O'Keeffe.

"Over the past decade, the Government has invested almost €60m in capital projects in NUI Galway.

"Just over half of that came under the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions which is competitively awarded exchequer funding.

"The funding has enabled NUI Galway to expand such research programmes as biomedical engineering, nanotechnology and marine science."

He added: "Research of this calibre will enable us to secure high-value direct foreign inward investments in an increasingly competitive global environment."

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.

The construction contract was awarded to BAM Building. It's expected that up to 300 people will be employed during the peak construction period.

(PR/JM)