The former deputy boss of ASIO has defended its controversial new $589million headquarters in Canberra, saying it was necessary, architecturally ''a good response'' and ''quite harmonious'' with the landscape.
The Department of Finance has also given an update on the building saying it is running on time and on budget.
Construction and fit-out is due to finish by the middle of the year with staff moving in by late 2012.
In an interview with The Canberra Times about his role as the new director-general of the National Archives of Australia, David Fricker was asked about the ASIO building project which he helped manage in his former job as the spy agency's deputy director-general corporate and strategy.
Mr Fricker, who was with ASIO for nine years from 2002, s was involved in approving the building design.
''It is a purpose-built building. You can't get a top-secret agency and just stick it in any old building. If you're going to do it right and you're going to do it right for the next 50 years, it needs to be done at the construction stage,'' he said.
Mr Fricker said the building's function was the driving force behind the design.
''The building was built from the inside out. You can't start with an architectural competition and come up with the most beautiful edifice and then try and retrofit that to be a top security facility,'' he said.
''If you're going to spend the money wisely, if you're not going to have a flight of fancy and waste taxpayers' money, you've got to start with the important functions of the organisation.
''Having said that, I do think, personally, architecturally it's a good response. It's a greenfields site, Commonwealth land, it is properly within the Parliamentary Triangle, close to government. And I think it is well-positioned.''
There has been ongoing concerns by local residents and groups such as the National Trust that the building is too large for the site.
''I actually think it's ended up being quite harmonious with the landscape,'' Mr Fricker said.
''Architecture will continue to provoke debate and discussion in Canberra and other great cities around the world and long may that be the case.''
Mr Fricker said the need for a new building reflected the fact the ''job of ASIO is going to grow and grow''.
''As international systems become more complex and the world becomes more complex in a security sense, agencies like ASIO need to be ahead of the game and Australia would be very poorly served if it allowed its security service to fall behind the game,'' he said.
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