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Graham Hughes via RollingNews.ie

DAA awards north runway construction contract to Irish-Spanish consortium

The contract is for the design and construction of the new 3.1km north runway at Dublin Airport.

DAA HAS AWARDED the main construction contract for Dublin Airport’s new north runway to a joint venture between Irish firm Roadbridge and Spanish infrastructure company FFC Construcción. 

The contract is for the design and construction of the new 3.1km north runway at Dublin Airport. 

According to DAA, preparatory site work will begin immediately, with groundworks starting in January. 

Construction of the new runway is due to be completed in early 2021 and commissioning will then take place. 

The contract includes building 306,000sq/m of new runway and taxiways, and 6km of new internal airport roads, as well as installing new drainage and pollution controls, 7.5km of electrical cable, and more than 2,000 new runway and taxiway lights. 

The new runway will support the creation of 31,200 new Irish jobs and €2.2 billion in additional economic activity by 2023, the DAA said. It added that the project will be at no additional cost to the State. 

About 300 construction jobs will be created onsite during the project, with hundreds more in sub-supply firms offsite. The commissioning phase of the runway project will also create additional employment both onsite and offsite. 

DAA said that it is mindful of its local communities and mitigation measures such as a voluntary house purchase scheme and a sound insulation programmes for homes that will be affected are already in place. 

Minister for Transport Shane Ross welcome today’s announcement. 

“I remain fully supportive of the provision of additional runway capacity at Dublin Airport,” Ross said, speaking prior to his departure from the airport to Washington DC this morning.

“The airport experienced its seventh consecutive year of growth last year, welcoming close to 30 million passengers, and the importance of ensuring that we have adequate capacity at our biggest airport to drive national economic growth cannot be overstated,” he said. 

As reported by Fora.ie, the runway plans came in for criticism earlier this year when the union that represents Irish pilots complained that it will be too short and could limit the hub from developing future routes to Asia. 

In a letter to Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Coveney, the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) claimed that the 3,110m runway, slated for completion in 2022, will be too short to handle a fully loaded, long-haul aircraft.

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    Mute Drahcir Neirbo
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    Oct 30th 2018, 3:46 PM

    Paddy and Pedro will be mucho sàsta

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Oct 30th 2018, 7:32 PM

    @Drahcir Neirbo: vero go leoir

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    Mute Drahcir Neirbo
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    Oct 30th 2018, 7:40 PM

    @Greg Blake: and in the words of the legendary Terry Wogan. Agus nà be a mahogany gaspipe

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    Mute Martin Sinnott
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    Oct 30th 2018, 3:49 PM

    How will the “ runway support 31,000 jobs “ ? Who made up these numbers ? Fantasy numbers.

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    Mute Diarmaid Mac Aonghusa
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    Oct 30th 2018, 4:05 PM

    @Martin Sinnott: In the same way that Seán Gallagher was creating employment by being a commercial landlord.

    77
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    Mute Jazz Buckler
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    Oct 30th 2018, 6:56 PM

    @Martin Sinnott: 10 jobs per metre of runway
    I’m guessing that’s how they calculated it – ‘cos it’s simple and easy to understand ;)

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    Mute Dotty Dunleary
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    Oct 30th 2018, 7:16 PM

    @Martin Sinnott: Is that a serious question or are you just taking the Pistachio??

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    Mute Greg Blake
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    Oct 30th 2018, 7:30 PM

    @Martin Sinnott: don’t know how they arrive at these figures, but it only says ‘support’ , (vague political promise, like, you know, monorail monorail), so I’ll presume a lot that they presume a lot. It’s still bound to be beneficial overall and I wouldn’t hung up on the figures.

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    Mute Simon Conneely
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    Oct 30th 2018, 3:45 PM

    At long last well needed at Ireland’s busiest and largest airport!

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    Mute Tweety McTweeter
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    Oct 30th 2018, 4:39 PM

    @Simon Conneely:
    Best airport award goes to Cork

    32
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    Mute KerryBlueMike
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    Oct 30th 2018, 4:59 PM

    @Tweety McTweeter: Shannon is the best.

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    Oct 30th 2018, 7:09 PM

    @Simon Conneely: And how do people get to and from the airport? in standstill traffic OF… oh right this is the only option.

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    Mute Jack Goff
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    Oct 30th 2018, 3:45 PM

    Wouldn’t be like us to build something not fit for purpose…tunnels, motorways , schools…..

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    Mute Tweety McTweeter
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    Oct 30th 2018, 4:38 PM

    @Jack Goff: Don’t use it so. When booking your tickets, request that your flights take off and land on the southern runway

    38
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    Mute Tony Stack
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:13 PM

    @Jack Goff: childrens hospitals with no parking

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    Mute Fiasco99
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:17 PM

    @Jack Goff: Port tunnel was exactly the correct size. The “problem” of super trucks was a white elephant put forward by a tiny number of hauliers and parroted by the oppition at the time for political points.

    If you look at the M50 and m7 widening, almost none of the bridges needed to be touched or new land CPOd as it had been allowed for in the original build (grade seperatly required landtake due to more stringent modern road standards)

    I’m not saying things dont get built under capacity, but the alternative is to spend huge amounts of extra resources on something that may not be needed.

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    Mute Jack Goff
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    Oct 30th 2018, 6:22 PM

    @Tweety McTweeter: will do

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    Mute Nicholas Lynch
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    Oct 30th 2018, 8:47 PM

    @Fiasco99: Fiasco . The M50 doesn’t need more capacity added but we do need a South link from the port and an outter motorway

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    Mute Peter Kiernan
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    Oct 30th 2018, 4:05 PM

    Brown envelopes for many.

    54
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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Oct 30th 2018, 4:01 PM

    A fully loaded Airbus 380 needs 2900m to take off and a Boeing 767 needs about 2700, What planes are they expecting that won’t have enough space on a 3100m runway?

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    Mute Bingobango
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    Oct 30th 2018, 4:09 PM

    @Rob Cahill: They thought 2 lanes on the M50 would be enough too.

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    Mute Fiasco99
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:21 PM

    @Bingobango: but built bridges and took land to allow for the current 3, plus the on off lane.Despite what people think, expansion was allowed for, and as painful as it was, the upgrade was only possible dur to that foresight.

    The stoping of the residential units near the airport has meant that only a tiny number of residents are effected. The lands for the second runway were taken years ago. No Heathrow style demolition of entire villages…

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    Mute John Murphy
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:23 PM

    @Rob Cahill: better looking at it than for it

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    Mute Shane Corry
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:52 PM

    @Rob Cahill: The A380 runaway / airport guidlines published by Airbus specify the need for 2990m of runway length at MTOW, ISA+15 (max take-off weight) plus an increase in length of 1% for every 1 degree the reference temperature for the airport is over the standard temperature. For Dublin airport that is 19 degrees meaning (19-15=4) the runway must be 104% of the standard length or 3109m.

    So at 3,109m to safely accomodate the A380 at MTOW, Dublin’s new runway is already not enough and that’s before factoring in that this lenght recommendation from Airbus is based on ‘perfect’ conditions; no runway slope, no wind & dry weather.

    That’s not to say that an A380 can never operate from the airport but that consideration will have to be had for the times of year / at what weight / capacity it can operate using.

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    Mute Barra O Brien
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:54 PM

    @Rob Cahill: Why are you thinking big? Think small man

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Oct 30th 2018, 6:08 PM

    @Rob Cahill: Call forward planning.

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    Mute damian
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    Oct 30th 2018, 6:53 PM

    @Rob Cahill: You always need redundancy built in. Not every take off is perfect. If they abort the take off just before rotating, the need a good bit of runway to come to a standstill again. Safety first! Atmospheric conditions also extend take off distances as another poster mentioned…

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    Mute BarronVonVaderHam
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    Oct 30th 2018, 6:57 PM

    @Bingobango: under EU rules you cant go from no motorway to 3 or 4 lanes, you have to start with 2 lanes and only build upon that if there is no other alternative, motorways promote congestion, they do not solve congestion

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    Mute BarronVonVaderHam
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    Oct 30th 2018, 6:59 PM

    @Shane Corry: its landing them they’re worried about

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    Mute D Writer
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    Oct 30th 2018, 8:06 PM

    @Rob Cahill: have you factored wind into that ?

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    Mute William Kelly
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:03 PM

    Any taking bets against that it will be an offshore special purpose vehicle, with profits & management fees vanishing from tax assessment here?

    20
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    Mute Dr Richard DeWitt
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    Oct 31st 2018, 8:41 AM

    @William Kelly:
    FFC Construcción – well known in legal circles for high propensity to litigate. This is unlikely to end well for the taxpayer.

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    Mute Anthony
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    Oct 30th 2018, 6:18 PM

    Just don’t get the crowd who are doing the M7 or it’ll never be finished

    19
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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    Oct 30th 2018, 7:06 PM

    @Anthony: seriously, never see more than 6 lads out there.

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    Mute #Inglés Retweeter
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    Oct 30th 2018, 3:44 PM

    FCC, not FFC.

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    Mute Grotmaster
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    Oct 30th 2018, 4:02 PM

    @#Inglés Retweeter: Are they the same FCC that went in with Saccyr and Hegartys on the M50 widening scheme?

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    Mute Cal-Dog
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:11 PM

    I wonder if the Irish element of this joint venture just as flag of convenience for the Spanish company..optics aren’t great to award full contract to Spanish company..not sure i maybe wrong and it could be a 50/50 partnership..anyone know?

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    Mute Eoin Scanlon
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    Oct 30th 2018, 6:31 PM

    @Cal-Dog: Roadbridge are probably our biggest civil contractor and responsible for massive amounts of work here. For example built most of the M8.

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    Mute Cal-Dog
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    Oct 30th 2018, 9:28 PM

    @Eoin Scanlon: thanks eoin

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    Mute Malachy
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:16 PM

    Good man rosser stick to your guns!!! Seriously what would pilots know about runways.

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    Mute Shane Corry
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:58 PM

    They really needed to get moving on this 3-5 years ago. This upgrade is needed right now, it has been required for near a year now. The airport is effectively at capacity as it is. Both in terms of runway movements and lack of aprons / gates.

    As always in Ireland, it’s rare to see any tought for the future, upgrades are only done when current infrastructure is already overloaded. Now the country will have to suffer for the next 4 years as between likely delays and the commissioning process this new runway won’t open before Q4 2021 / Q1 2022 meaning we are at a disadvantage to other EU major airports in terms of capturing more of the connecting passenger market from UK airports that will be affected by Brexit.

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    Oct 30th 2018, 7:05 PM

    Stick em all on the 2 hour double-decker stand still, welcome to the land of no transport infrastructure!

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    Mute Cal-Dog
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    Oct 30th 2018, 5:11 PM

    I wonder if the irish element of this joint venture just as flag of convenience for the spanish company..optics arent great to award full contract to spanish company..not sure i maybe wrong and it could be a 50/50 partnership..anyone know?

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    Mute Jaci Black
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    Oct 30th 2018, 7:48 PM

    Is this a company called ‘BAM’?

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    Mute Paul O Mahoney
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    Oct 30th 2018, 8:46 PM

    “Limiting development as a hub to Asia”?
    Most people fly to Asia via Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Heathrow or other large European airports. We have presently one direct flight to Bejing and that a 787….A380 isnt as popular with airline’s any more due to fuel and other costs. The present proposal will amply cover any expansion…….

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    Mute Ian Breathnach
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    Oct 30th 2018, 11:50 PM

    @Paul O Mahoney: There is also a direct flight from Dublin to Hong Kong by Cathay Pacific. You are right about the A380, many of the long haul carriers are opting for the 787 and A350 planes instead.

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    Mute Eddie Mc Keown
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    Oct 30th 2018, 8:43 PM

    On the cheap obviously….

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