(Picture- L to R: Gary Ryan – Colas, An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, PJ Kennedy – Director Lagan Asphalt, Padraig O’Connor – Project Manager Lagan Asphalt)

An Taoiseach Micheál Martin officially opened the newly reconstructed main runway at Cork Airport on November 20, 2021 at a ceremony to mark the completion of the project.

The Taoiseach was joined by Minister Hildegarde Naughton T.D, Minister of State at the Department of Transport and senior cabinet members, Simon Coveney and Michael McGrath TD to witness the result of the single biggest investment by any Government in Cork Airport to reconstruct a key strategic asset for Cork and the South of Ireland for the next 20 years.

Construction works on this time sensitive project took place on a 24/7 basis, allowing the new runway to be completed by 22^nd November in advance of the busy Christmas travel period. The project was initially scheduled to take 9 months to complete, However Cork Airport management (DAA) decided to avail of the huge drop in passenger numbers due to Covid-19 to fully close the airport from September 10^th for ten weeks.

Geoscience Ireland member companies Lagan Asphalt and FLI Carlow played significant roles in the project.

FLI Carlow produced over 400 precast concrete chambers, complete with lids and couplers of different diameters and arrays.

The significant advantages of precast/offsite manufacture allowed for:

• Speed of installation
• Quality and accuracy
• Unaffected by weather and temperature
• Long design life
• Consistency of product
• Integrity of seal around openings due to self-compacting mix
• Less labour on site
• Less transport to site
• Any configuration (sizes of up to 38t as single unit) with tried and tested manufacturing process with hundreds of similar chambers installed in airports and data centres across Europe.
• Industry standard – Amazon Web Service, Microsoft and International Airport approved

The project allowed FLI Carlow to grow its workforce by 18 no. to 116, from 98 at the start of the year.

FLI Carlow provides design, engineering and manufacturing services for the off-site manufacture of specialist concrete infrastructure, non infrastructure and attenuation systems. Our markets include Water, Wastewater, Energy and Storm Attenuation in the UK & Ireland and bespoke projects globally.

Lagan Asphalt was appointed the resurfacing works on runway 16-34. Lagan’s role included detailed planning and logistics and some 2,350 truckloads of asphalt, as well as 200 truckloads of CBGM concrete. Lagan placed 47,000 tonnes of Marshall Asphalt in 47 shifts, working 6 days a week. The project team was led by PJ Kennedy, Director and Padraig O’Connor, Project Manager. The team comprised 60 personnel with 50 no. of items of plant and vehicles involving complex logistical co-ordination of labour, plant and material resources. Asphalt materials were manufactured at Lagan facility in Carrigtwohill Co, Cork.

Lagan initially placed 4,000 tonnes of CBGM as road base reconstruction mainly along centreline of the runway. This was followed by various layers of Marshall Asphalt Regulating, Base Course, Binder Course and Surface Course. The total runway area was 145,000m2 was paved in echelon with 2 Vogele 1800 tracked pavers each with a 6m screed fed by Roadtec shuttle providing continuous paving and a superior finish surface

Lagan Asphalt, part of Breedon Group, provides construction materials in Ireland; Breedon Group, operating in the UK & Ireland, produces cement, aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, Welsh slate and specialist concrete and clay products, and offer a range of contracting services.