GDG ACEI 2021 Award Win

Date: 2021-10-01

On 21 September we attended the ACEI 2021 Awards, where it was announced that GDG, working with Donegal County Council, Fox Building & Engineering, GeoStrong, Maccaferri and Arup, had won an ACEI 2021 Engineering Excellence Award for Environmental Sustainability in the Natural Environment, for its involvement in the N56 road project, above the Gweebarra Estuary, near Lettermacaward, Ireland.

The original design envisaged the road would need to be widened; however, the proposed works would have been challenging and may have required road closures. This resulted in the main contractor, Fox Building & Engineering Ltd, approaching material suppliers Maccaferri and GeoStrong, and geotechnical consultant Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions (GDG), to develop an alternative solution that could be constructed in a safer, quicker and cheaper manner than the specimen design. The proposed design removed all of the concrete and steel works and replaced the slope with a geogrid reinforced slope up to 18.5m high. The team optimised slope geometry to minimise the structure's footprint, while also allowing traffic to continue at the surface. The project was successfully opened in April 2020.
 
Congratulations to the entire team – a well-deserved award and recognition for all your hard work and efforts!