latest news

September 2006

Halcrow meets the Ryder Cup challenge

Ireland’s biggest-ever sporting event, golf’s Ryder Cup will be played over the Palmer Course at the K Club from 22 to 24 September 2006.

Halcrow has been working on two key commissions related to this prestigious sporting event. Acting as consulting engineer to Ryder Cup Limited, Halcrow has been associated with all aspects of the installation of the infrastructure for the championship. This will include temporary grandstand seating throughout the golf course for 15,000 patrons and in excess of 35,000m2 of marquees, many of them two-tier structures and, overlooking the 18th green, a three-tier structure.

Halcrow has worked closely with Kildare County Council and Kildare Fire Safety as the regulating authorities in the delivery of the infrastructure, which includes the design and construction of park-and-ride buses and hotel coaches adjacent to the K Club. Project director Willie Dunbar will co-ordinate the management of the infrastructure and incident response plan during the event.

The second project is the widening and upgrading of a stretch of the N7, a national primary road, to provide enhanced access to County Kildare and to the west and south of the country. At a total cost of £157 million, the upgraded N7 comprises 14km of widened three-lane dual carriageway and four new grade-separated interchanges.

This project was undertaken by Halcrow Barry, the joint venture between Halcrow and J B Barry and Partners in Dublin. Halcrow’s project manager Ernie Crawford said: “The upgrading of this key strategic route linking Dublin with Cork, Limerick and Waterford was perhaps one of the most complex road engineering projects ever undertaken in the Republic of Ireland. This was due to the necessity of keeping approximately 62,000 vehicles moving through the site each day.”  The road was opened by transport minister Martin Cullen TD on 15 August 2006.

Commenting on Halcrow’s involvement with the Ryder Cup, Halcrow’s regional director Sam McCurdy said: “I am pleased that Halcrow was involved in the delivery of these key projects. This is an excellent example of the range and depth of Halcrow’s expertise. We are all looking forward to a unique sporting event and, of course, European success in the cup.”

Return to: latest news...