Project Customer: South Dublin County Council

Murphy delivered the Airton Road Extension Scheme Project, which included the constructing of a new link road from Belgard Road to Cookstown Industrial Estate in Tallaght, Co. Dublin.

This road extension creates greater connectivity for Tallaght Hospital, Technology University Dublin (TUD), a post primary school, an innovation centre, and a residential community.

It also fulfils an objective of South Dublin County Council County Development Plan which promotes and supports the regeneration of underutilised industrial areas within areas designated with Zoning Objective Regeneration ‘REGEN’ (to facilitate enterprise and/or residential led regeneration).

Works included:

• The construction of approximately 328 m. of a two-way single carriageway road connecting Cookstown Industrial Estate Road to Belgard Road. The Cross sections of a 6.0 metre carriageway, 2.0 metre raised adjacent off-road cycle lanes and 2.5-metre-wide footpaths.
• The construction of three signal-controlled junctions, Junction of Cookstown Ind. Estate Road with Airton Road Extension, Junction of Airton Road Extension with the entrance into Belgard Retail Park and the Junction of Airton Road Extension and Belgard Road.
• The construction of associated drainage and culverts.
• The construction of boundary walls, fencing and access treatment.
• Associated earthworks and appropriate landscape works.

Murphy collaborated closely with designers DBFL, South Dublin County Council and demolition sub-contractor, Tinnelly Group, to reuse crushed concrete from the demolition of an existing warehouse on-site. This warehouse demolition was necessary to facilitate the new road alignment, and the structure’s concrete frame provided suitable material for recycling.

The recycled aggregates were processed and tested on-site to meet TII standards. By using this approach, we reduced an estimated 200 HGV trips and 9 tonnes of embodied carbon on this project.

Murphy was awarded its first contract on the Dodder Greenway Framework in January 2020: The Dodder Greenway Phase 2.

Since then, we have continuously worked on this framework with the successful tenders on subsequent Phases 3, 4 and 5.

The Overall Dodder Greenway scheme extends over 14km and passes along the Dodder Valley from Inner Dublin City to the rural Dublin mountains. With the Completion of the Dodder Greenway Phase 5 project, Murphy has now constructed over 8km of this Greenway.

Works have included the installation of shared cycleways, footpaths, greenspaces, landscaping, and three bridge crossings over the Dodder River at various locations along the route. Although developed as a combination of off road and on road, this greenway utilises existing facilities within the Dodder Valley as much as possible, to connect the linear parklands along the route.

Murphy is committed to a sustainable legacy. On every project, we aim to design out unsuitable materials, trial new products, implement innovative measures, construction materials, and employ best practice to reduce the carbon footprint.

The majority of our carbon emissions result from the use of plant, transport and machinery, therefore on the Dodder Greenway Project, we employed the following measures:

• Selected hybrid excavators and VT-hybrid-LED lighting towers, which are 94% more efficient and can operate silently, lowering Project-related noise.
• Deployed our new generation of fleet vehicles with capped CO2 ratings and an average of 109kgCO2/km, to reduce vehicle fuel consumption.
• Achieved lower Project-related mileage by making better use of teleconferencing for Project meetings and design development.
• Invested in new bespoke energy efficient Eco-cabins for site accommodation; Certified to ISO1406.