The design for the new National Children’s Hospital at St James’s in Dublin has been unveiled.

The proposed building is oval-shaped and features a “therapeutic garden” on the roof and an inner courtyard. At its highest point, it rises to seven storeys - half the height of the buildings proposed for the Mater side which was rejected by An Bord Pleanála.

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar, who viewed the design for the €650 million today together with a group of children providing advice on the project, described it as “breathtaking”.

“It’s clear from the open-plan building, the gardens, the sports facilities and the state-of-the-art wards that this is a unique building.”

The design team say they aimed to give the hospital a “memorable quality that captures the imagination of children and gives it a unique sense of place”. The building will incorporate a simplified orientation and different areas that are distinguishable from each other “ensuring that the space is less daunting and more in keeping with the scale of things familiar to children, like houses and trees”.

The proposed hospital makes provision for 42 critical care beds, 18 neonatal critical care beds and 380 single inpatient rooms.

Planning permission for the development is expected to be lodged in June and the hospital is scheduled to open in 2020.