Study Tours
Quick links below to individual Study Tours:
Dublin with John Irvine 4-6 May 2011
Central Scotland with Philip Shields
28th – 30th April 2010.
Cornwall with Philip Robinson
1–3 May 2009
North East Tour with Geoffrey Perrin
May 2006
Barcelona with Ronnie McKee
15 to 19 May 2002
Scotland and the Falkirk Wheel with Grahame Fraser
16 May 2001
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Dublin with John Irvine 4-6 May 2011
On Wednesday 4th May a party of 23 members of the Northern Ireland Branch met in Grosvenor Café in Glengall Street for coffee and scones at the start of a most enjoyable trip to Dublin.
With our own coach we travelled to Jury’s Inn at Custom House Quay. Our first presentation, from Ciaran Fallon Dublin City Council, focused on the operation of Dublin Bikes scheme and its impact on travel around the city. After lunch, Declan Herlithy of Mott Macdonald gave us a presentation of the development of the Luas light rail system and, in particular the 80 million euro extension of the system from Connolly station to the O2 Arena. The site visit to the scheme was very interesting and it was plain to see how the investment had been a catalyst for the rejuvenation of the whole area.
We made it to the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Dalkey (the Dublin base of the Irish rugby team) in good time for some relaxation before an excellent night’s craic in the Dungeon! The hotel’s restaurant.
Up bright and early on day 2, the men headed to north Dublin for presentations (courtesy of Henry Ritchie and Ciaran Masterson of the National Roads Authority) on the new barrier free tolling system on the M50 and on the PPP project to widen the motorway from the Red Cow interchange to the M1 interchange. Following this we were shown round the e-Flow back office operation by Sanef, the French company who provide the 31 million euro per annum service for NRA.
Meanwhile, the ladies enjoyed some retail therapy in Grafton Street and a visit to the National Gallery, before we all met up for lunch at the Schoolhouse Restaurant in Ballsbridge.
After lunch it was off for a behind-the-scenes tour of the, very impressive, Aviva Stadium where we got a chance to see a video of the demolition of the old Lansdowne Road stadium and aspects of the construction of the new stadium. Having looked around the press area, the superb dressing room facilities, pitch level and having climbed to the very top tier of seating, we headed back to the hotel.
On Thursday evening we were joined by the Chairman of the RoI Branch, Alan O’Brien, for another excellent meal in FXB Monkstown.
The mist and overnight rain cleared early on Friday morning as we headed to Powerscourt House and Gardens. The blue skies returned and we were all able to enjoy the stunning gardens just below the spectacular backdrop of Sugar Loaf Mountain.
After another nice lunch! It was time to head back to Belfast.
As we arrived back to Glengall Street to say our goodbyes, a passing member of the public remarked that we had obviously had a good time. We certainly had!
Thanks to all of those who were in the party for making it such a success - Tom and Heather Bill, Geoffrey and Jean Perrin, Ronnie and Elma Porter, John and Rona McRobert, Keith and Janet Wood, Steven and Anne Caldwell, Robert and Angela Peden; Billy McCoubrey, Tony Rice, Bert Bailie, William Hunter Paul McKeown, Adam Heanen and Libby Irvine.
Thanks also to all of the local companies who so generously sponsored the event - Tennants Bitumen, ICB Emulsions, KPL, Northstone, Graham Construction, WDR and RT Taggart, Clarke Group, FP McCann Ltd, McLaughlin and Harvey, 4 Square Media and John McQuillan (Contracts) Ltd
The Branch would not be able to run its annual study tour without this support.
John Irvine
Chairman CIHT NI Branch
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Day 1.
This years NI Branch study tour began at 6:30am at the new Stenaline terminal in Belfast Harbour where 29 sleepy adventurers boarded a coach bound for Scotland. Some of the party were so keen to get started that there was an impromptu “sail by” site visit of the new ferry terminal currently being constructed by McLaughlin and Harvey at Loch Ryan. Others were just glad to meet the acquaintance of a friendly barista on his last shift for Stena.
Safe and sound off the boat we went directly to Arecleoch Wind Farm where we enjoyed an informative presentation by Martin O’Neill, Farrans Project Manager for the site. The scheme comprises the installation of 60 wind turbines on a remote 24 square kilometre forest site, with all the associated access and infrastructure requirements that entails, including the construction of 45km of new internal access roads, a 36m span steel composite bridge over an existing railway line and the installation of 265km of electricity cables. Each wind turbine will be founded on an 18.5m2 reinforced concrete base and will stand 88m high from base to hub. The blades alone are 39m long! When the scheme is completed it will have an installed capacity of 120MW, enough electricity to power 67,000 houses. Unfortunately due to time constraints and the remote nature of the site we were unable to visit any of the actual turbine locations so we headed off for a late lunch at Souter Johnnie’s in the village of Kirkoswald, Ayr.
Souter Johnnie’s Inn is built on the site of the old schoolhouse where Robert Burns went to school in 1775. An inscription on the door stated that Burns blamed a girl who also went to the school on his poor grasp of mathematics. Allegedly she “set him off in a tangent from the sphere of his studies”. After lunch we travelled straight to the hotel, where we had a chance to relax, recuperate and look forward to the following day’s activities.
Day 2.
Next morning most of the group set off to visit the M80 Stepps to Haggs DBFO road project. Inexplicably some of the partners preferred a visit to the historic town of Stirling for some much needed shopping. The technical group arrived at HMC offices near the site and were met by a delegation from Transport Scotland, Jacobs (the client’s representative), Highways Management Scotland and HMC.
This project is delivering the upgrade of 18km of the A80 to motorway standard between Stepps and Haggs, north of Glasgow. During feasibility two different routes were considered, an offline route and a mainly online route. It was primarily for environmental reasons that the offline Kelvin Valley route was rejected, as it would have involved extensive works near the Antonine Wall, an area of significant national heritage importance.
David Parr from HMC, during his excellent presentation, covered all of the challenges involved with construction of the scheme including the complex temporary traffic management measures required to accommodate 70,000 vehicles per day and the incentives in place to ensure two lanes of traffic in each direction could be maintained throughout the working day. Noise barriers and bunds were being installed near residential areas and thin surfacing was being laid along the route to reduce noise levels. During the bus tour David pointed out the large attenuation ponds that were being constructed to deal with surface drainage and described the alterations required to slip roads to bring them up to current design standards. With regards to safety, there was a particular issue with traffic speed through the works. Average speed enforcement cameras were installed along the route which had the effect of reducing speeds from 65 mph to 35 mph.
When we left the M 80 site we met up with the Stirling contingent at the Falkirk Wheel for a light lunch and a fantastically entertaining guided boat tour. For anyone who isn’t familiar with it, the wheel is a truly inspiring piece of modern engineering. Opening in 2002 and standing 35m tall it is the world’s only rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The wheel consists of two opposing arms which extend 15 metres beyond the central axle and take the shape of a Celtic-inspired, double-headed axe. Two sets of these arms carry two diametrically opposed water-filled caissons, each with a capacity of 80,000 gallons.
The caissons always weigh the same whether or not they are carrying canal barges as, according to Archimedes' principle, floating objects displace their own weight in water. This keeps the wheel perfectly balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it takes just 22.5 kilowatts to power the electric motors that turn the wheel, roughly the same as boiling eight kettles of water! The wheel rotates through 180° in five and a half minutes, compared with the 8 hours it used to take to navigate through the 11 lock gates that it replaced.
After the visit we arrived back at the hotel in good time, and after a wonderful dinner at a nearby restaurant I intended to have a quick nightcap in the hotel bar before bed. Having said that, after dinner I do recall Tom Bill reminding us all of “The best laid plans of mice and men”.
Day 3.
It was an early start (and a rude awakening for some) on Friday morning for our final technical visit and presentation on the Edinburgh trams project. We were met by a delegation from Transport Initiative Edinburgh, the clients for the project, at the offices of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. Mike Connelly presented a thought provoking overview of the scheme and discussed some of the challenges facing them, including the diversion and upgrade of a myriad of underground services and difficulties convincing politicians, the media and some interest groups that the project provided good value for money.
Following the presentation we were treated to a bus tour along part of the route of the new tram system from Newhaven into the City Centre, where some of the engineering difficulties involved with installing new infrastructure into a Unesco world heritage site cityscape became all too apparent. After this tour there was only a couple of hours left in Edinburgh to pick up some last minute gifts and something to eat before we travelled back across Scotland to get the boat home on Friday evening.
Appreciation is due to Philip Shields and his wife Carole for organising what was an extremely informative and enjoyable tour and to all the sponsors who make the event possible. Thanks also to Sam, our bus driver, who had to contend with a few narrow and low bridges and kilometres of loose stone site access roads as well as the normal heavy traffic travelling between sites. A final thanks to all the people who hosted us at the various projects. Overall this was an excellent trip, enjoyed by all and I’m sure everyone is looking forward with interest to next years.
IHT NI Branch Study Tour to Cornwall , 1–3 May 2009
In May 2009 the Northern Ireland Branch Study Tour visited Cornwall during the Mayday Bank Holiday weekend. Thanks to some fine weather, an excellent itinerary put together by tour leader Philip Robinson, and some sage advice from our Coach Driver Brian, the 25 strong party had a most enjoyable and memorable time in the historic Duchy.
Day 1
The Study Tour arrived at Exeter Airport at 11.30 on Friday 1st May in the South West of England. We then had a 50 mile journey for lunch at the Wellington Hotel in Boscastle. Here we met up with Paul Allen, QUB C.Eng graduate and Roads Engineer for Cornwall County Council. Paul has responsibility for this area, and was on site during the infamous floods of 16 August 2004. He was also involved in the clear up in its aftermath. Paul gave us an informative tour of Boscastle village and an explanation of key events during the flood. He started by explaining that our lunch venue had been under 4m of water during the
height of the flood!
Stand out facts included;
· Torrential rain which lasted for 5 hours (it was a 1 in 400 year flood event).
· It took only 3½ hours for the local River Valency to breach its banks.
· It was the biggest peace time rescue in the history of mainland Britain.
· Only 4 of the 58 properties flooded were demolished as the sturdy stone buildings founded on bedrock were able to resist the deluge.
· 4 footbridges over the Valency were washed away and 32 cars, which were washed out to sea and have never been recovered.
· The repair bill for the damage caused was £50 million.
· There were no fatalities, the worst injury being a broken thumb!
We thanked Paul for his time and headed off to our Hotel, the beautifully set Art Deco ‘Carlyon Bay’, St. Austell. After booking in we enjoyed a beautiful meal in the Churchill Suite. Apologies were received from the South East of England Branch who were unable to join us.
Day 2
Saturday began with a visit to sunny St Ives. Highlights included the 3 beaches, the harbour, the medieval streets, St Ives Church built in the early 1400’s and the Museum where one can view the clockwork mechanism of the Pendeen Lighthouse. This is a wonderful piece of Victorian Engineering, which in 70 years of use never once failed, sending out a light visible for 17 miles warning seamen on what still is the most dangerous coastline in the British Isles. After lunch, of mostly Cornish pasties and local ice cream we headed to the administrative capital of Cornwall, Truro. A pleasant afternoon was spent in Truro, (Tryurw meaning 3 rivers in Cornish) perusing the bustling shops. Most of the party took the time to visit the majestic cathedral which was built in the late Victorian era. There was also an International Male Voice Choir competition in the Town Hall with Donaghadee holding up our end.
After Truro, it was back to the Hotel via the scenic route to ready ourselves for the evening meal, with champagne reception, in the nearby Pier House Hotel, Charlestown. This is beautifully situated behind the Charlestown Harbour, which was designed by John Smeaton, the man responsible for the Eddystone Lighthouse, and built in 1801. The food and the company matched the surroundings.
Day 3
Sunday began with us checking out of the Hotel and taking the short journey to the Eden Project, whose aim is to promote the understanding and responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources, leading to a sustainable future for all. Built in a former China clay quarry, the biomes, the spectacular geodesic domes which house the project are invisible from the roadside. Up close though these structures are breathtaking in both style and scale.
Chris,our guide, who is a project volunteer, took us around the larger of the 2 biomes, the rainforest biome. This is the world’s largest conservatory which is 240m long, 50m high, and 110m wide. The domes were constructed using three ply hexagonal plastic and lightweight galvanised steel tubular panels. Temperatures inside range from 18oC to 35oC. The humidity ranges from 60% during the day when visitors are present, going up to 95% at night. The tour lasted 2 hours and afterwards the party was able to visit the smaller and much cooler Mediterranean biome. This is certainly a place to revisit and is suitable for all age groups.
Brian our expectant coach driver brought us back to Exeter Airport from where we made the short journey home from what was a worthwhile and thoroughly enjoyable trip.
Thanks again to Philip Robinson, and all the Sponsors. Thanks also to Paul Allen, Cornwall County Council and to Brian of Roselyn Coaches.
An excellent tour with the best of company.
North East Study Tour, May 2006
This year the Northern Ireland Branch Study Tour visited the North East of England in early May. Thanks to some excellent advice from the North East Branch and blessed with near perfect weather the 30 strong party had a most enjoyable and memorable time in Newcastle and Durham.
Our first day was spent enjoying the ‘museum’ of 7 bridges across the Tyne including the Tyne Bridge, the forerunner of the Sydney harbour bridge, and the magnificent Gateshead Millennium. Tours were arranged to see the Swing bridge engine room and many of us were privileged to see the mechanism in operation as the bridge opened for pleasure craft.
The disused quays along the Tyne presented a major opportunity for urban regeneration and considerable redevelopment has taken place. We took the opportunity to visit the Baltic art gallery and the futuristic Sage concert hall. In the evening we joined with our friends from the North East Branch to enjoy dinner cruising down the Tyne from Newcastle to the sea passing under all 7 bridges.
The boat trip took us past many disused quays and industrial sites and conjured up images of the bustling waterway it must have been in its prime. It was interesting to see the Vosper Thorneycroft yard still busy servicing the offshore pipeline industry.
On the second day we visited Durham to see how Durham City Council deals with modern traffic conditions in the ancient Cathedral City. We saw the new Park and Ride facilities on the outskirts of the City and learnt how the Council has introduced congestion charging on the ‘island site’ around the Cathedral to limit the traffic in the historic centre of the City. This was the first congestion charge to be introduced in the United Kingdom.
No trip to Durham would be complete without a visit to the magnificent Cathedral on the commanding site above the River Wear and we marvelled at the craftsmanship of the cathedral built approximately 1000 years ago. We visited the Beamish open air museum and travelled on buses and trams from the early 20th Century and some of us had the chance to travel on the steam engine Locomotion built in 1825. While there we saw the plaque commemorating the work organised by the North East Branch and sponsored by the local companies to assist the museum with road repairs. It is a fascinating place and well worth a visit. Unfortunately time did not allow us to see all the museum but that is a good enough reason for us to return at a later date. We are grateful to Miriam Harte, the Director, for the warm welcome and for a most interesting afternoon.
That night we dined at Newcastle United Football Club, the “home of good football” and friendships across the Irish Sea were formed and strengthened. On our final day, following a most interesting paper on the Newcastle/Gateshead Transport Plan we travelled by metro to Tynemouth and had lunch in the Grand Hotel, an experience to be recommended. Our sincere thanks to the North East Branch for their help, advice and companionship during the study tour. We look forward to maintaining the links and visiting other branch areas in the future.
Geoffrey Perrin, Chairman (Northern Ireland branch). May 2006.
Study tour to Barcelona, 15 to 19 May 2002
The NI Branch study tour started on a wet Wednesday morning at Airport Road, Belfast at 6.45 am, then by coach to Dublin Airport and Iberia Airlines flight to Barcelona. All 27 arrived safely in Barcelona to strong bright sunshine.
The tour was ably led by the Branch Chairman “Rownie” McKee. At least that was the name on the coach awaiting us at the airport before travelling on to the Hotel Cristal Palace, which was very well sited for all of the important sights.
The technical visit was to the EACSA (Explotacion De Aridos Calizos, SA) Limestone Quarry at Garraf, some 40 kms from Barcelona. This is the fifth largest quarry in Spain, part of the CRH owned Beton Catalan Group of companies.
The quarry’s annual production is three million tonnes of limestone, of which around one million tonnes each are used in mortar production (on site), crushed stone products for use in concrete and hard fill. The sheer scale of the operations was impressive, especially how well they had been landscaped to be virtually invisible from the surrounding populace. The production and palleting of the mortar was fascinating to observe at close hand.
After lunch we went to the port of Barcelona, which is 15 kms long, to visit the new harbour entrance under construction. It currently takes the fishing fleet some 45 minutes just to steam out of the harbour itself with all port traffic negotiating the same stretches of water. A high level bridge across the middle of the harbour has to open for the passage of the larger ships with resultant vehicular traffic congestion.
The new entrance (145 metres wide, 11.5 metres draught) and 1,635 m breakwater, at a cost of €42 million, are designed to give improved access for the inner (older) harbour (10 minutes for the fishing fleet), reduction in traffic congestion and provision of a large 10 hectare area for shopping, hotels, and a new fish quay.
Rubau Construccions is the main construction company for the project. The works were nearly complete, incorporating 2.4m tonnes of rock armour (300 and 8,000 kg in size), 5,420 concrete blocks (40 tonne and 23 tonnes in size), 47,100 cu m of reinforced concrete and 1,270 tonnes of steel, together with 1.05m cu m of dredging and 335,100 cu m demolition of existing breakwater.
We also saw a pioneering joint-less concrete pavement under construction in a reclaimed area of the docks. The method induces cracks (joints) in the pavement, at proscribed locations by using a patented plastic former, which nonetheless were very strong in compression.
The ladies of the group were entertained to a guided tour of the many sights of Barcelona by the very informative guide Sylvia (alias Francesca according to “Rownie”). The men were accompanied by Santiago who was equally knowledgeable and helpful. Our thanks to them both for such an interesting time.
The rest of the tour was spent viewing at close quarters the many architectural masterpieces of Antoni Gaudi, including the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, a monumental structure still under construction after 80 years; the private house Casa Batlló, with its extreme design (no straight lines, curves everywhere); the Park Guell, a large parkland constructed on a steep slope with interesting use of scalloped edged platforms as view points and many examples of Gaudi’s artistic talents.
Other areas visited included the massive Barcelona FC Football Stadium; Castell de Montjuic via the Teleferic (Cable Car) with its oversight of the city and the whole harbour area complete with large bore (5 km range) guns; the spectacular Transborder Aeri (large cable car) over the Trade Centre and harbour; and the statue to Columbus (pointing in the wrong direction, for artistic effect) with all the noise and bustle of the old and modern cities. There is much more to see! Barcelona was a magnificent venue. The weather was excellent, around 23C most of the time, with clear blue skies and hot sunshine. A particular feature of the tour was the food. It just seemed to get better and better (even though some of it was served rather too cool for us Northern people) starting with dinner at Los Caracoles restaurant off the Ramblas, then Moncho's restaurant on the Passage de Gracia, and finishing at the Barceloneta restaurant in the old harbour. All of the restaurants were first class, even though first impressions were misleading as you walked in through the hot kitchens, but each had its own character, excellent cuisine and atmosphere. The Barceloneta was an exceptional venue with its open balcony on to the harbour at sunset.
The last morning, was one of quiet reflection wandering around the old cathedral area listening to the guitarists playing classical and spanish music. So relaxing and interesting that two of our number (names can be supplied) almost missed the midday departure to the airport for the return journey. The air flights and coach connections all worked perfectly and everyone returned home in excellent, if somewhat burned, spirits.
Thanks to Rownie McKee and all the sponsors, particularly Tennants Tar Distillers, R J Maxwell & Son Ltd., Mr Jim Donaghy (Lagan Group) and the companies we visited. An excellent and informative tour, enjoyed by all, and we are looking forward to Vice Chairman Alan Woodside’s tour to either Boston, Amsterdam or Athens next year. If you have the opportunity you should take it. See you there?
Billy McCoubrey
7 August 2002
Study Tour Visits the Falkirk Wheel, 16 May 2001
Under the Chair of Grahame Fraser and his wife Helen, Northern Ireland's branch annual study tour visited Glasgow and Edinburgh to see a range of urban regeneration and transportation projects.
The 27 strong party gathered on Wednesday morning 16 May 2001 at the Stena passenger terminal in Belfast to board the 7.40 HSS sailing to Stranraer. We travelled by luxury Ulsterbus coach from Stranraer to Glasgow for lunch and a presentation on the Glasgow Urban Realm Strategy by Ferguson and McIlveen, and an intresting but light hearted presentation on roads and transport in Glasgow by Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick. This was followed by guided tours of the Urban Realm project sites in the centre of Glasgow. The party reassembled at the end of the afternoon to travel to our hotel in the centre of Edinburgh and later that evening we enjoyed an excellent meal in a restaurant on the Royal Mile.
Thursday morning commenced with a presentation in our hotel on the Millennium Link Canal Project by representatives of the British Waterways Board. This is a major Millennium Project which will restore the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals to their former glory, joining the West and East Coast of Scotland with fully navigable waterways for the first time in over 35 years. The Forth and Clyde Canal was first excavated in the 1760s and its reinstatement is expected to promote more than forty thousand full time jobs.
The cost of linking Scotland’s North Sea and Atlantic Coasts, as well as reconnecting the once busy water borne routes between Glasgow and Edinburgh is £78.5m. Funding is from the Millennium Commission, Scottish Enterprise and the European Union, local authorities and project manager British Waterways. The cost of the scheme is not justified purely in terms of reopening navigation for leisure craft but the wider impact of creating jobs and enabling canal side commercial and recreational development along the new corridor.
The canal will also provide “Grey Water” for Industrial use in Grangemouth, while in conjunction with British Telecom, a fibre optic cable runs alongside the canal between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The tour visited the Forth and Clyde Canal at Grangemouth to see the construction of a new seal lock and a section of new canal. This contract included considerable river works as well as the building of a Marina alongside the new sea lock making it possible for boats to move from Grangemouth Docks along the River Carron on to the new canal.
After lunch in Falkirk, the tour visited the Falkirk Wheel, the unique rotating boat lift which will connect the Union Canal to the Forth and Clyde Canal. The giant concrete piers of the superstructure dominate the view of the wheel site, where construction is moving quickly ahead with work on schedule for completion by the end of the year. The wheel itself with its two gondolas are being constructed by Buttery Engineering Works in Derbyshire and twelve hundred tonnes of steel will have to travel by road from Ripley to Falkirk under police escort. The site also incorporates an impressive £3.7m visitor centre which will have an exhibition area, a one hundred seat café and a shop. The tour party was fully kitted out with safety hats and reflective jackets, and as well as visiting the wheel site, we were able to walk through the canal tunnel under the Antonine Wall, which is adjacent to the wheel site.
Dinner on Thursday evening was in the New Town area of Edinburgh and the party was augmented by a considerable ex-patriot contingent of Ulster students who joined their parents for a most enjoyable evening. On Friday the tour visited the Port of Leith for a presentation by Forth Ports on the major regeneration of Leith waterfront which is being carried out as a joint venture between the private sector and Forth Ports.
The prestige centrepiece of this development is the Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre. Edinburgh's new 440,000 square feet shopping centre has magnificent views from its stunning location on Ocean Drive, yet the shopping centre is only ten minutes from Princes Street. The new centre will include a Debenhams store, a mall of retail shops, extensive restaurants, a multi-screen cinema, a 1600 space car park and a visitor centre for the Royal Yacht Britannia. The party had a most enjoyable tour of this development which will be a wonderful addition to the Leith Docks area. Other major projects include leisure, residential and office developments, including the recently completed Scottish Executive Building which houses 1500 Scottish Civil Servants. The party then enjoyed a tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia which has been fitted out exactly as it would have been for a royal visit, complete with a Rolls Royce in the onboard garage.
The party then returned to the City Chambers for a presentation by Waterfront Edinburgh Limited on the other new developments taking place along the sea front on the Firth of Forth a buffet lunch was provided by the City Council and this was followed by a visit to see the latest techniques being used in the reinstatement of the Royal Mile. The afternoon finished with free time for shopping and visiting in Edinburgh City and a final tour dinner was held at the Northern House Hotel in Ingleston where we where entertained with traditional scottish music. The party returned to Belfast on Saturday by Ulsterbus Coach and HSS Ferry at the end of a most entertaining and enjoyable trip. Thanks to Grahame and Helen Fraser for organising and looking after the group so well, to British Waterways Board, Port of Leith and Edinburgh City Council for all the arrangements and hospitality, and our special thanks to all the sponsors who so generously supported the trip.
Eric Porter, Past Chair