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Contact | Mar 12 Region in focus

Region in focus: Ireland

BELFAST

Critical Care Unit nears completion at Royal Victoria Hospital

The Critical Care Unit should

complete this year

IRELAND Major projects underway Dublin City Council has awarded a €6m (£5m) contract to Graham to construct a new bridge just downstream of O’Connell Bridge. The bridge will be for public transport, cyclists and

pedestrians to cross the River Liffey. l University College Dublin is carrying out a €90m (£77m) transformation of campus facilities.

Projects in the pipeline l A £30m-£40m contract to construct

a new quay at Belfast Harbour is being secured this spring with work due to start in June and complete in

September 2013. l A £583m four-year capital works programme for building works on roads and hospitals in Northern Ireland. The biggest project is the £330m upgrade of the A5 dual carriageway linking the north-west of Northern Ireland to the Republic. A further £105m will go on completion of the A8 road scheme and £57m is for completion of the A2 Greenisland dualling scheme from Belfast to Carrickfergus. £91.7m is being spent on three hospital schemes: phase three of refurbishment at Altnagelvin Hospital (£28.5m); pushing forward on plans for a new hospital at Omagh (£25.7m); and delivering phase B of the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald (£37.5m).

Number of CIOB Members: 3,176

Number of people employed in construction: 68,500 in NI

Economic forecast To 2014, total construction output in Northern Ireland is expected to rise at an annual average rate of 1.1%. New work activity is expected to be stronger than repair and maintenance. Source: The Construction Index

The view from the M1 motorway, through the West Link in the city of Belfast, shows an exciting new building taking shape at the Royal Victoria Hospital. A £143.5m Regional Critical Care Unit (2B) is

being constructed close to the site of the existing emergency department and outpatient centre. It is part of the ongoing redevelopment of the complex site for the Belfast Trust. Work began in September 2008 and is set to be completed this year. CIOB members from the Ireland Northern Centre

have visited the site on two occasions since construction began. In June 2010, McLaughlin & Harvey and the Belfast Trust took members to the

site to learn more about the new hospital building. John Roden, senior construction manager, and Dennis Brownlee of the Health Estates Investment Group (HEIG) led a tour of the building at its early stages. Both talked about the future of the build and delivered a presentations on the structure of the building and the various units it will hold. The building will provide an emergency department,

four additional theatres (ultraclean and standard), 40 critical care beds (including eight specialist isolation rooms) and three floors of maternity facilities consisting of two floors of post-natal inpatient beds and one floor of outpatients. The restriction on space and having to build close

to the existing maternity hospital and eight-floor EENT building posed difficult challenges. Contractors also had to work within stringent noise, dust and vibration levels as the site was surrounded by theatres and ward blocks. A second site visit took place last summer when CIOB members returned to see how the building was progressing as floors were being added. Martin Cushnahan, Northern Centre Chair, said: “We were delighted to get two opportunities to see the progression of this building. It is indeed an exciting build!”

CIOB in Ireland would like to extend its thanks

to McLaughlin & Harvey’s Roden and director Alan McKee, as well as Dennis Brownlee, assistant project manager of HEIG.