River Dargle Flood Defence Scheme.
These images were taken during the second week of September, 2016.
On a rare trip down to the Harbour area, just to check out progress here. Throughout the summer, this is where the heavy-duty engineering works have been taking place.
This is a section of the flood protection scheme that I have pretty much ignored — it’s inconvenient for me to access, and others cover it much better.
Check out ‘Turgidson’.
Standing on an access bridge, adjacent to the Bray Boxing Club (from whence sprang Katie Taylor, and others of illustrious note), looking back up the river, towards the town direction.
In the foreground is the Railway bridge, and in the distance we can see some construction works taking place on the Ravenswell Road, temporarily closed due to on-going works.
That is the site of the old Bray Golf Club — hotly contested as a (potentially) poorly considered site for a shopping centre development complex, and still an area of ground that has to act as a flood plain in the event of tidal surges.
The Irish Rail Bridge, Bray Harbour:
Phase 1 flood defence works to the Irish Rail bridge commenced in August 2016.
Phase 2 flood defence works will be completed during May to September 2017. This work is being undertaken directly by Irish Rail.
The work includes strengthening the integrity of the bridge by creating buttresses around the base of each pillar.
To do this they have to pile-drive sheets into the river bedrock.
The work is complicated by;
(a) the need not to damage or disturb in any way the actual bridge itself (Irish Rail train and DART carriages pass overhead on an hourly basis), (b) the confined spaces under the bridge, and (c) the twice-daily rising tides from Bray Harbour which spill upriver into the newly expanded basin.
To create proper foundations for the columns, the guys are having to drive steel piles deep into the bed of the river. Similar to work done elsewhere. Within that waterproof chamber, they set/poured concrete to build the columns.
This pile driving work here involves a sub-contractor using an excavator-mounted vibratory pile driver – possibly a ‘Movax’ model. That’s the combination they used in 2014 with the work opposite La Vallee.
Very delicate work – pick up, adjust grip, swivel, align, interlink with previous pile, and then drive downwards.
Trench Control – BANKSMAN.
According to standard HSA guidelines, a ‘BANKSMAN’ is defined in civil engineering terms as:
“A banksman (a trained slinger* and signaller) must always be used where loads are lifted and safe direction is given to operators of lifting appliances. The banksman directing a crane’s movements should be easily identifiable to the crane operator (eg, by the wearing of uniquely identifiable high-visibility clothing and/or the use of radio call signs).
* slinger
The duties of a slinger/signaller include:
• Carrying out visual pre-use checks of the lifting accessories
• Attaching the load to the crane correctly and in accordance with the lifting plan
• Giving the appropriate signals to the crane operator for the lifting, transferring and positing of loads in a safe manner
• Detaching the load from the crane
• Ensuring that the lifting accessories are stored correctly and reporting any defects
Posted by O Suave Gigante on 2016-09-29 17:05:20
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