PROJECT DETAILS

Public Realm Works at Clarendon Row in Dublin City Centre.

This project reached Finalist Stage at The Irish Construction Excellence Awards in May 2024.

Overview

This project entailed the upgrading of services, new street and pavement surfacing, new soft and hard landscaping, signs, street lights, Dublin Bikes infrastructure and new street furniture in this busy highly pedestrianized part of Dublin City. The works were bordered on the north side by Clarendon Street and the St. Stephens Green shopping center on the south side accommodating 25,000 daily pedestrians and the main vehicle exit for Grafton St.

Preparation

To guarantee the safe and efficient execution of the project we allocated a full time Liaison Officer to the project. Before works commenced we arranged to meet with all nearby stakeholders and utility providers whereby we explained the nature and purpose of the works to them. We arranged the meeting via an initial letter drop.

To avoid inconveniencing affected stakeholders the works were carefully planned and executed over 10 separate work phases. Each phase was carefully planned and in all instances approval obtained from the local authority and affected stakeholders. As the works involved the alteration, realignment and renewal of all utilities our site based Services Coordinator arranged to meet with all representatives before works commenced.

Before works commenced we completed a full internal and external dilapidation survey of all properties. We also completed CCTV and GPR surveys of existing services.

Streetscape Works

Key site activities included; 150m of a new 250mm dia high pressure HDPE water main, 150m of a 450mm dia sewer pipe including 5 new manholes, 750m of new ducting for Eir, ESB, Public Lighting, Virgin Media including 12 new chambers. As the new services were laid we also provided new connections for all properties along the route. The transfer to the new services was carefully planned, sometimes executed at night time, to avoid any disruption of supplies.

As part of the works the existing 150m long road was narrowed to make room for 30 new Dublin Bike stands. This work entailed identifying, lifting, storing and the careful relocation of the existing granite kerbs and paviors.

As part of the new finished streetscape works we laid 300m of granite kerbs, 350m2 of granite paving and 500m2 of DBM coloured anti-slip surfacing including road markings. We also installed new bollards, new decorative benches, trees incorporating water attenuation SUDS bases and all civil engineering support infrastructure works for Dublin Bikes.

Challenges

As the works were planned in an extremely busy built up part of the city environment we planned and executed the most sensitive aspects of the project such as services transfer during out of hours.

CHALLENGE	IMPLEMENTED SOLUTION
Effective communications with affected stakeholders.	Appointment of a full time Liaison Officer. Timely letter drop to all stakeholders. Ongoing communications. The initial letter drop contained contact details for our Project Manager, Site Foreman and Liaison Officer.
Nuisance Management - Noise, Dust, Vibrations	New and fully serviced mini plant. Wetting down during dry spells and saw cutting, noise barriers. Site and activity inductions. Daily integrated HSEQ audits. Constant monitoring of the site by our Site Foreman.
Identifying, protecting and upgrading utility services	We allocated a full time services coordinator to the project. Timely contact with all utility providers. Initial CCTV and GPR surveys. Hand excavation in more sensitive areas. All excavators accompanied by a banksman. Adopted a Dial Before Dig approach.
Maintaining Access to Affected Stakeholders	Close liaison with all stakeholders and the careful phasing of all works.
Site Security	CCTV and Time Lapse cameras. Security officer for out of hours.

Results

The project was delivered to such a high quality of workmanship, within budget and on time that it reached Finalist Stage at The Irish Construction Excellence Awards in May 2024.