PJ Hegarty carried out the design and build of the remediation and capping of Haulbowline Island East Tip in Cork harbour, one of most stunning natural harbours in the country. We worked alongside our highly skilled partners to transform the area from an 650,000m³ industrial waste tip — created between 1961 and 2001 by Ireland’s only steel works and filled with steel scrap, slag, asbestos and other hazardous materials—into a multi-use public park.
The complex project involved provision of an engineered capping system to protect park users from exposure to contaminants and to limit infiltration of surface water into the waste and groundwater. The outline remediation included installation of a Perimeter Engineered Structure, which lowered groundwater to prevent waste seepage into Cork Harbour. Reprofiling was required to create a suitable landform from the irregular ground profile caused by stockpiled materials.
More than 350 tonnes of steel plus existing structures were removed from the site, which was then regraded and capped with a polyethylene membrane, a geocomposite drainage layer, and soil. The site’s 830-metre shoreline was re-formed with 35,000 tons of rock armour and 45,000m³ of subsoil. Associated site works included provision of drainage, walkways, seating, car-parking, toilet facilities, an access road, a new sports pitch, and relandscaped wetlands and wildflower meadows.
The project won numerous prestigious awards, including the Engineering Project of the Year and the 2019 Local Authority Engineering Initiative Award, as well as the 2020 Irish Construction Excellence Award and the 2020 Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland Engineering Excellence Award.
