Critical milestone reached on major project to benefit 80,000 customers across Dublin City East

Uisce Éireann and Dublin City Council have reached a major project milestone to upgrade and improve the water supply to over 80,000 homes and businesses across Sandymount and the East Dublin City area. The project involves the replacement of over 3km of old and deteriorating pipeline along Beach Road and Strand Road in Sandymount. When completed this important project will significantly reduce leakage and ensure a more secure and reliable water supply for current and future generations.

Due to its declining condition, the pipe was causing continued supply issues for customers and was therefore prioritised by Uisce Éireann for investment and replacement. Innovative engineering techniques are being used to shorten the construction timeline and significantly reduce the amount of construction vehicle movements, noise, dust and vibrations.

Almost 1.5km of new trunk main has already been installed since the project began in late September. On track for completion ahead of the Christmas period, the first section involves connecting new pipework to the recently constructed trunk water main on Gilford Road, signalling a major milestone for this complex civil engineering project.

Following the completion of these works, traffic management will be removed and two-way traffic will be restored for the Christmas period only. Uisce Éireann continues to work in collaboration with our regulatory partners to minimise disruption to the local community, amenity and road users during the works. Following review of latest site conditions new traffic management measures will be introduced to assist traffic flows on key arterial and local community routes. These changes will also expediate necessary elements of the works and ensure project roads are open at the earliest opportunity, reducing congestion on local roads.

To safely and efficiently carry out the remaining  sections of works, from first week in January 2023, Beach Road and Strand Road will be limited to southbound traffic, with northbound traffic following signposted diversions.  Local and emergency access will be maintained at all times. There will be no northbound access onto Beach Road and Strand Road from Merrion Gates.

Declan Healy, Infrastructure Delivery Project Manager, Uisce Éireann, said: "Over the last decade, there has been numerous instances of this pipe bursting and leaking due to its fragile and deteriorating condition, causing major operational challenges to ensure minimum supply disruption and undertake complex repairs.

"We have made significant progress and are ready to connect two major pipelines in this area, achieving a critical milestone in the delivery of this complex project. Furthermore, while replacing over 1.5km of old mains we have maintained normal water supply to homes and businesses.

"We are, however, acutely aware that such a major upgrade to our critical infrastructure can at times be disruptive and I would like to thank the local community for continuing to work with us in this busy area. The engineering techniques we are using on this project aim to reduce the impact on the community as much as possible. We would like to reassure the local community that, based on previous experience, we are confident that the short-term inconvenience will be overshadowed by the long-term benefits that this new pipeline will deliver."

Stephen Burke, Senior Engineer with Dublin City Council, added: "This is a complex project that involves working around a myriad of underground services such as gas, telecoms and electricity. Isolating a trunk main for upgrade work presents a significant challenge in maintaining supply to the city. To that end, over the last few years, Dublin City Council and Uisce Éireann have been undertaking major upgrades at strategic trunk main control points. These upgrades have improved our ability to divert water around this critical trunk main to facilitate the planned network enhancements and maintain normal water supplies to homes and businesses."

The works are being carried out by GMC Utilities Ltd. and are expected to be completed by early Summer 2023.

The Uisce Éireann customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries. For updates please visit the Water Supply Updates of our website. For traffic management updates throughout the phases of this project, please visit the dedicated project page.