Apple's Spaceship campus gets the go-ahead

Apple's plan for its "Spaceship" campus has been finally approved by the City of Cupertino, with the iPhone maker planning on completing phase one of construction by 2016.

The smartphone giant had already received the necessary permission to begin demolition of the former HP campus already on the site.

As part of the agreement Apple will increase the amount of tax it pays to the City of Cupertino. This will take the form of a decreased sales tax rebate. Apple currently gets a 50 per cent refund from the city, but this will reduce to 35 per cent.

Officially known as "Apple Campus 2", the curved building will be four storeys high and house 13,000 employees. It will be designed to be environmentally friendly - with Apple generating its own power from natural gas/solar power and using the energy grid as backup.

The first phase of the Campus 2 construction will see the firm build the main 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped building. Apple also plans to make a 100,000 square foot fitness centre and a 120,000 square foot auditorium.

During a second phase Apple will build 600,000 square feet of office space and R&D facilities.

Apple's co-founder and CEO the late-Steve Jobs originally presented plans for the campus in June 2011.

Khidr Suleman is the Technical Editor at IT Pro, a role he has fulfilled since March 2012. He is responsible for the reviews section on the site  - so get in touch if you have a product you think might be of interest to the business world. He also covers the hardware and operating systems beats. Prior to joining IT Pro, Khidr worked as a reporter at Incisive Media. He studied law at the University of Reading and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism and Online Writing at PMA Training.