A £3.7 million project is underway at Bransholme Reservoir near Kingston upon Hull to improve flood protection in the region. Main Contractor Black and Veatch have employed Dew Piling on an £800,000 contract to construct a temporary bridge over a culvert and install sealed sheet piles through the existing bund around the reservoir. This will increase the surge capacity of the reservoir in the event of heavy rainfall.

The reservoir releases water into the tidal area of the River Hull. In the event of heavy rainfall or a high tide, the increased surge capacity of the reservoir will allow the water to be stored until it is safe to release it into the river. Also, the current emergency spillway faces the area of a new housing development. The bund improvements will move the spillway to channel the water directly into the river in an emergency.

Using a TOSA silent piler and also conventional piling, Dew Piling will install 1,800 3W 9m sheet steel piles through the existing bund over a period of 22 weeks. A 2m pile projection will be left above the ground, which will then be clutch welded to give a water tight seal. The work will be carried out with minimal disturbance to the wildlife at the site which is home to several species of wildfowl.

Dew Piling is working together with sister company FK Lowry on a prestigious project to extend the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Working for main contractor Willmott Dixon, FK Lowry and Dew Piling offered a value engineered scheme which combines CFA bearing piles and sheet piling.

The scheme has been engineered to take account of an adjacent dock feeder canal and the busy college adjoining the site, and is complicated by restricted headroom in places. The work is being carried out to a predetermined sequence to assist Willmott Dixon in their follow on works, requiring close co-ordination between the supervisor and site managers on a daily basis.

321no 450mm diameter CFA bearing piles, for loads up to 1250kN in compression, are being installed using a Soilmec CM50 rig to piles depths typically of 12 to 15m. The CFA piles are founding some 6-8 m into the underlying mudstone. The programme for the CFA works is 5 weeks but is on target to complete in 4.

The sheet piling is designed to protect a dock feeder stream which runs adjacent to site and a pile cap adjacent to an existing building. 40 linear meters of sheet piling are being installed using a Movax rig with a 700N Air Hammer. The piles are KSP3Ws, ranging in length from 6m to 10m.

The companies are pleased to be meeting targets with regards to Safety, Quality and Environment, as well as programme.

Dew Piling have recently completed work on a section of the M42 Motorway Improvement scheme for main contractor Dew Construction with a value of approximately £200,000. The scheme was designed by Amey to improve the safety of a busy exit at Junction 5 on the southbound carriageway.

175 linear metres of sheet steel pile retaining wall was constructed working from the existing hard shoulder. The piles had to be delivered to a nearby compound and then distributed to the work area by a Hiab vehicle under strict traffic management conditions. The piles were then supplied to the work location by a side loading forklift due to the retricted working area. The pile line was pre-augered to a depth of 500mm above the final toe level of the piles using Dew Piling’s 14m leader rig, which was then converted on site to drive shorter sheet piles to their design depth. Longer AU20 piles were then installed using a 13/16m ABI leader rig. Once the pile installation was completed, the piles were anchored and a concrete capping beam constructed in-situ, prior to final construction of the new safety refuge and exit lane.

Roadmix has opened a new state of the art concrete production facility at Whitemountain Quarry outside Lisburn.

With the addition of new environmentally friendly truck mixers, Roadmix plants are now well placed to service the Greater Belfast area as well as further afield including Carrickfergus in the north, Antrim in the west, Lurgan in the south west and Banbridge in the south.

Kingscourt Brick is celebrating winning a major international award for its extension to the Cork Institute of Technology.

The unique project, which used Kingscourt's Hanover Multi bricks, has been presented with the esteemed Best International Project award by the Brick Development Association (BDA).

Cork Institute of Technology is one of Ireland's key higher education institutions and was named as the "Institute of Technology of the Year" in the Sunday times University Guide.

George Ferguson, Chair of the BDA's judging panel and past president of RIBA, praised the Cork project as an accomplished and highly sculpted work of brick architecture. The judges predicted that it woudl become one of the significant buildings of the 21st century.

The accolade follows the earlier award of a Gold Medal from the prestigious Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI) to Cork Institute of technology for the extension. The RIAI Gold medal is the highest honour in Irish architecture and is presented every three years for the design of the building of exceptional merit.

The project was designed by deBlacam and Meagher Architects.

Future Project: RVH Phase 2B - Critical Care Building

Client: The Royal Hospital Consulting Engineer: Scott Wilson Main Contractor: McLaughlin & Harvey Location: Located on the former site of Quinn house, within the Royal Hospital site in Belfast

Scope of Works : Enabling Contract: 260 Linear meters of retaining wall 8.5 meters retained height including • 274 No 600mm diameter CFA Piles for Contiguous retaining wall • 201 No 600mm diameter CFA Piles for Secant retaining wall • Ground Anchors on 2 levels including Temporary, Permanent and Removable anchors

Main Contract: 643 number 600mm diameter bearing piles to carry 1600kN from reduced dig level within the retained structure.

Programme: This project is due to start in August 2007 for the piling works, we are currently on site proceeding with further site investigation, to assist with detailed design.

Lagan Construction has opened a new project office in Scotland as an operational base for work being delivered under the framework with Scottish Water Solutions and to facilitate business growth in the region.

Located at Forsyth House, Rosyth, the office is well placed for access to transport networks, situated close to central motorways, rail connections and Edinburgh Airport.

John Allsop, Regional Director, Infrastructure will manage the operation.

Office contact details are:

Dunfermline Suite, Workzone by Forsyth, 16 Cromarty Campus, Rosyth Europarc, Rosyth, Scotland KY11 2WX. Telephone: 01383 417985

The new state-of-the-art wastewater treatment works at Omagh has been officially opened, bringing the vision for improved water and sewerage infrastructure throughout Northern Ireland a step closer. Built to serve an estimated 47,000 customers in Omagh and the surrounding area, the new plant is part of a five-year strategy and an investment of £1.1 billion to upgrade water and sewerage services.

The scheme was delivered as a design and build project by Infrastructure Services Division working in partnership with Purac. The new plant will remove nitrates and significantly improve the quality of discharges to the River Strule in compliance with stringent EU standards, safeguarding the environment for future generations.

Opening the plant, Water Service Chairman Chris Mellor said: “The construction of this new facility represents significant investment in the area providing benefits for the local community and local economy well into the 21st century.

“The introduction of water and sewerage charges will sustain the investment required to protect public health, meet European standards, respond to increasing demand and provide Northern Ireland with a world class modern service.”

Lagan Construction's flagship D2H watermain project which was delivered in joint venture with J. Murphy & Sons is now up and running and supplying quality drinking water to 400,000 customers in Antrim and the greater Belfast area. The new pressurised watermain, which transfers treated water between Dunore Water Treatment Works in Antrim and Hydepark Service Reservoir in Mallusk, was completed in less than eight months at a cost of £24 million.

The huge scheme for Water Service saw almost 1,400 large diameter pipes (1200mm) cross through 120 fields, 22 roads, four rivers, a railway track, three playing fields and a golf course as it completed its 18km journey.

The newly-laid steel pipeline replaces the old 48” concrete main which was installed by the Belfast Water Commissioners in the late 1960s and which had become increasingly vulnerable and susceptible to bursts and leaks.

With the capacity to deliver up to 180 million litres of water a day, the new pipeline represents one of Water Service’s strategic trunk mains in Northern Ireland.

The final stage of the project will be the reinstatement of land in the Spring, including the replacement of hedgerows which were removed during the course of the works.

The Obel Tower currently taking shape at Donegal Quay in Belfast city centre looks set to break more than one Irish record.

When completed the 26-storey sky scraper will dominate the Belfast skyline at just over 80m tall.

This project is also the site of Lagan Construction’s largest ever concrete pour - a continuous pour of 1,450m3 to create the foundations for the high rise structure.

Our team is building a 2 storeybasement car park and associated infrastructure to create the foundations for the high rise structure which is being developed at a cost of £50 million by the Laganside Corporation.

The main basement construction includes a steel sheet piled retaining wall and CFA concrete piled foundations which were installed by FK Lowry Piling in preparation for the concrete pour.

The concrete was supplied by 3 Roadmix batching plants using 16 concrete trucks on turn around, providing a continuous supply of 182 loads between 4.30am and 7pm. A total of 1,600 T of aggregate, 1,100 T of sand, 582 T of cement and 247,520 litres of water were used - all in the space of 14 hours! Once cast, the concrete slab covered an area of 953m3.

When complete, the Obel Tower will provide 182 apartments, a 144-bed hotel, offices, a bar and restaurant. It is part of the regeneration programme to breathe new life into Belfast’s disused docklands.

As of April 2006 Lagan Holdings companies, Whitemountain Surfacing Ltd, Kennedy Quarries Ltd. and Whitemountain Aggregates Ltd combined to trade as Whitemountain Quarries Limited. The merger is seen as a key strategic move which will enable Whitemountain Quarries Limited to compete even more effectively throughout Northern Ireland and beyond. The new company will also have managerial and operational control of the concrete products provider, Roadmix Ltd., completing an impressive portfolio of surfacing and aggregates products.

"Individually, each of the previous companies was very successful and enjoyed an excellent reputation within their respective markets," explains Mark Kelly, Managing Director at Whitemountain Quarries Ltd. "We continually seek to improve all areas of our business, and with a view to the future we will best serve our customers under a unified Whitemountain brand. This Whitemountain brand represents quality and offers a single point of contact for a comprehensive range of aggregates and innovative special products, as well as surfacing, highway maintenance and civil engineering services."

Mr. Kelly continues, "The re-structure will lead to a stronger operational structure with pooled resources and expertise. Ultimately, all our customers will benefit from quality products and a highly responsive service from an expert team."

Lagan Cement has utilised Meat and Bone Meal (MBM) to co-fuel its cement kiln since June 2006.

The use of MBM as a fuel source has significantly reduced net CO2 emissions levels, thereby enabling Lagan Cement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as required under the Kyoto protocol. This material is used safely and extensively as a high performance fuel source in dozens of cement factories across Europe and further afield. In today's carbon-constrained economy, the use of carbon neutral fuels such as MBM and indeed low-carbon fuels generally, is becoming an area of critical importance for sustainable development into the future.

(See News Item : 'Lagan Cement wins national Environmental Award' for more information on recent recognition of this co-fuelling initiative by Lagan Cement)