Client: Glenveagh Homes
DBFL were appointed to provide full civil and structural engineering services for this high-profile residential development for Glenveagh Homes at Greystones Marina. This project involved the construction of seven four storey apartment blocks over basement carparking, over 2000sqm of commercial retail space, 153 houses and a large coastal boardwalk.
Located within the 9 hectare site of Greystones Harbour & Marina, the site for this development lies on a coastal strip of reclaimed land between the Railway Line / Cliff Walk and the Greystones Marina.
Structural design resulted in the foundations to the houses comprising of top driven precast concrete piles into the underlying original gravel or clay with precast concrete ground beams and precast concrete ground floor slabs. The superstructure to the houses comprises timber frame construction.
The apartment blocks were constructed of reinforced concrete cross walls supporting precast concrete floor plates. The stepped back penthouse level is constructed from an aluminium cladding supported off a light-gauge steel frame.
Civil engineering requirements include provision of foul and surface water drainage services, surface water outfalls at marina wall, petrol interceptors and watermains, as well as provision of roadways, footpaths, paved car-parking spaces, boundary walls etc.
The Public Plaza comprises an area of 9,340sqm with both hard and soft landscaping. The works include underground drainage including a foul pumping station, a fuel pumping station, fuel tanks, attenuation tanks and underground ducting to serve all the M & E utilities on-site. Some of the foul drainage in particular is in the region of 3m to 4m deep in places.
The main foul and watermain rising main was excavated up along Victoria Road under the railway bridge to the nearby pumping station. This involved excavation adjacent to the bridge abutment and thus close liaison with Irish Rail.
Pedestrian access to the buildings at ground floor is via a 3,300 sqm concrete boardwalk, 11 metres wide suspended over the existing marina. This boardwalk was designed and detailed by DBFL as part of the enabling works package.
The boardwalk is comprised of a landscaped brick paver finished on a 150mm thick reinforced concrete in-situ topping on precast beams spanning up to 10m onto precast concrete crosshead beams. This is all supported on concrete filled steel driven piles within the marina. The post tensioned crosshead beams are in excess of 11m long and are typically 970mm wide x 600mm deep.
With a design working life category 5 (100 years), the boardwalk was nominated for an Irish Concrete Award in the Infrastructural Category in 2019.
The project is located partially on reclaimed land and as a result the ground conditions encountered varied greatly throughout the site. Foundations for the apartment blocks consisted of precast piles and in-situ pile caps. Whereas, the foundations of the housing varied from precast driven piles, and precast ground beams to traditional strip footings.
All structures within the Greystones Marina Village development have been designed to cater for the marine environment. In the case of the boardwalk and the apartment these structures have been designed for a tidal splash and pray zone. This was achieved by specifying different concretes throughout the site, specific to the exposure conditions at the zone in which it is used.
By incorporating driven piles into the design, the removal of spoil material was minimised.
Maximising the use of prefabricated elements, such as the timber frame housing and the precast ground beams and floor slabs, resulted in the reduction of trades and materials being constructed in-situ.
Project Director
