North Wall Avenue, a new street in the Dublin Docklands with innovative tree-root soak-pits for sustainable drainage
Summary
Roughan & O’Donovan undertook the detailed design, tender stage assessment and construction supervision of this new 330m urban street connecting North Wall Quay and Sheriff Street Upper in Dublin’s Docklands.
Solution
- Provision of a 330m and 6.5m wide road carriageway, designed to accommodate all vehicles, including HGV
- Construction of footpaths in high quality paving materials, with complementary trees and street furniture
- Three new signalised junctions incorporating high quality facilities for pedestrians and cyclists
- Installation of new services, including foul and service water sewers, ESB, traffic and communications ducts, district heating pipes, and corrosion resistant watermains
Challenges
During site investigations for the preliminary design, we identified an area of contaminated land within the footprint of the proposed new street.
Our corrective action feasibility study identified two sources of contamination, namely, burned coal and fossil fuels associated with the site’s historic use as a rail compound/terminus and hydrocarbon fuel most likely deposited, over an extended period, from leaking tanks.
A portion of the contaminated material was removed from the site and sent for treatment.
As a precaution against the mobilisation of contamination from below or from adjacent sites, we specified construction materials for carrying potable water at the site as being resistant to hydrocarbon ingress.
We also instigated a groundwater monitoring programme to prevent any degradation in adjacent groundwater quality as a consequence of construction activities.
Services provided:
- Civil engineering design
- Engineering consultancy
- Contaminated land/hydrogeology
- Contract administration
- Construction supervision
