Google officially opens first phase of Bolands Mills development

New site to become engineering centre of excellence

Trade

Lorraine Twohill, Google; An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar; and Adaire Fox-Martin, Google

An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar today joined head of Google Ireland Adaire Fox-Martin and global chief marketing officer Lorraine Twohill to officially open the first phase of the Bolands Mills development and announce a new €1.5 million Google.org scholarship fund for students from under-represented communities in the area of AI. With grant support from Google.org’s fund, the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics at Dublin City University will enable scholarships for students at universities around Ireland.

The opening marks the 20th anniversary of Google’s arrival in Ireland. The company opened its first office in Ireland with just five employees in 2003. In the past twenty years Google Ireland has grown to become Google’s EMEA HQ with a workforce of over 9,000 people. The new Bolands Mills development will become a hub of engineering with over 1,000 engineers moving into the offices upon their completion. 

The new fund will enable universities to provide scholarships to students from under-represented communities, including people with disabilities, women in STEM,  first generation students with no history of third level education in the family and members of the Traveller community, who wish to apply for undergraduate courses where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Safety are core elements of the course. Through the scholarship fund, Google.org is providing a grant to the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, which will provide scholarship funding to Access offices in all Higher Education Institutions in Ireland.

The historic Flour Mills building at Bolands Mills has been expertly restored and adapted into a dedicated collaboration space for Google, with the ground floor opening to the public in 2024.  The building features a range of new designs and technologies so that people can mix and match their workspace to their needs and more closely collaborate with colleagues anywhere in the world. 

Fox-Martin said: “The Flour Mills building is steeped in history and our real estate teams have worked hard to ensure we respect its past, while equipping it for the future. When Bolands Mills opens fully next year, a mix of shops, eateries, public squares, and community and cultural spaces will bring new energy to this historic site.”

TechCentral Reporters

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