DUBLIN may soon get its first roof top running track and putting green. The plans are included in a £3 million refurbishment of the St Martin's House office block on Waterloo Road, Donnybrook.
Dublin Corporation has given planning permission for the refurbishment which will also involve the removal of the existing cladding and re cladding the facades.
The owners, Friends Provident Life Assurance company, felt the building was looking dated and needed a comprehensive facelift.
Mr Roger Mansfield, the company's property manager, said that now permission had been granted, the exact type of development on the large flat roof and its cost would be investigated.
"When discussing the matter with our project managers, I had in mind a building occupied by a firm of insurance brokers in Ipswich in Suffolk which has a grass surface. I said that if it was not very expensive I would like to investigate the possibility of putting something similar in which would be for the benefit of the tenants."
He said that if a grass surface was not feasible the possibility of an artificial surface would be investigated.
"We will need to look at the drainage and clearly if we are faced with something that might be a bit of a swamp for six months then we may decide it is not really worth it.
St Martin's House includes among its tenants the National Roads Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency and Golden Pages.
"I could see people using these sort of facilities over lunch hour either jogging or using the putting green. The idea would be to have the track around the edge with the putting green in the middle, Mr Mansfield said.