Global technology giant Apple Inc has gained clearance to start work on its new mothership – a shimmering disc-shaped building to house the company’s design, research and development sections.

The building will encircle 12,000 employees in its millions of square feet of space, including a “striking restaurant”, office spaces and a separate fitness centre. It has reportedly carried the company’s aesthetic from its smaller devices onto an architectural scale, formed as a glimmering ring of polished metal and glass.

Officials from the city of Cupertino, known as part of the ‘Silicon Valley’, have approved the plan for “Apple Campus 2”; a new home for the company that brought the world the Newton, Pippin, Apple TV and other wildly successful ventures.

“This new development will provide a serene environment reflecting Apple’s brand values of innovation, ease of use and beauty,” Apple said in its paperwork for planning approval.

“The entire campus, indoors and out, is intended to promote shared creativity and collaboration, and spur invention of the next several generations of Apple products.”

It is unclear when construction will begin, and Apple are famous for hiding the true cost of their eye-catching efforts. No doubt employees will be bursting to experience the; “landscape design of meadows and woodlands [which] will create an ecologically rich oak savannah reminiscent of the early Santa Clara Valley.”