For its industry-leading delivery of the Derrylea Bridge Widening Scheme, Cavan-headquartered McCabe Group was shortlisted as a finalist in the prestigious Civil Construction Project of the Year category at this year’s Irish Construction Industry Awards. Building Ireland touched base with founder and managing director Declan McCabe to discuss this magnificent award-nominated project and the successful McCabe Group journey so far.
Delivered for Cavan County Council quite literally on their own doorstep, the Derrylea Bridge Widening Scheme represents a wonderful feat of civil engineering excellence which provides a glimpse of McCabe Group’s myriad construction capabilities.
Established as McCabe Masonry in 2007 and rebranded McCabe Group in 2020 to acknowledge the company’s growth and diversification from a stone masonry specialist to offer a full range of bridge rehabilitation, civil engineering and commercial and residential general contracting services, the flexible and multifaceted company today fulfils a comprehensive portfolio of main contractor, project management, design, value engineering, stone masonry, fit out, clean rooms, site services, restoration & conservation and traffic management & planning services.
Proprietor Declan McCabe concedes that the Derrylea Bridge Widening Scheme project, which has been shortlisted for a 2023 ICI Award, was particularly close to his heart due to its proximity to the McCabe Group hub:
“Derrylea Bridge is literally at my doorstep – 100 metres from my home place and 300 metres from the office. Derrylea is our address, and I practically grew up on that bridge, played football on it and got the school bus from there. It’s a structure that is very close to my heart. It has always been a focal point in the local area, and we certainly didn’t want to lose it when it went out to tender.”
After a competitive tender, McCabe Group was awarded the project and in keeping with the company’s immaculate track record, did a fantastic job under the most challenging of conditions. Suffice to say, this was no simple bridge rehabilitation.
Derrylea is a two-span masonry arch structure which carries the R194 over the Claddagh River, situated 2km south-west of Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan. The existing twin-span masonry arch bridge was at a skew to the regional road, resulting in bends on both the approach to and departure from the bridge, which contributed to several accidents, particularly for traffic approaching from the southwest. The two skews presented the contractor with significant challenges when it came to widening and realigning the structure and the road approaching it from both directions.
“Over the years there was incident after accident,” Declan reflects. “It’s on a busy route and 8,500 vehicles cross that’s bridge every day. There are a lot of local co-op marts and factories and businesses in the town, and you’d have many HGVs going across as well as other traffic. It was a pinch point and there was a stop-go system for 20 years; it was great to finally be able to open it up and take that pinch point out of it.
“The fact that it was skewed in that manner meant we had to widen both sides, one at a time, which brought challenges. We also had to go down eight metres to get foundations and we had to work closely with Inland Fisheries Ireland, as it’s an important trout river, feeding Lough Sheelin, and with Wildlife Ireland. There were several challenges encountered but we addressed them all and it is very gratifying to have the project completed.”
Works carried out to the bridge included: realignment of the R194 on the approaches to the bridge; widening of the structure on both upstream and downstream (approximately 10m x 10m); road embankment widening of approximately 170 metres in length; a new pedestrian walkway provided on the upstream, northern side of the bridge, with all associated drainage; reconstruction of parapet walls with local natural limestone; resurfacing and road markings.
Work began on June 21st, 2022, and was completed on Oct 28th, 2022, which was on time and within budget. The project had a positive impact on the local area in terms of providing a safer road and enhancing a key local landmark.
As McCabe Group specialise in stone building and restoration, they are familiar with the traditional methods executed in the restoration of old arches and rebuilding of new arches. Many challenges were met and overcome throughout the project, with McCabe Group always finding the best solutions. For example, bad weather conditions with rising water levels posed a challenge. Each working area had to be destocked each time the level of water rose, by IFI, and the PH reading had to be taken daily. This all occurred while working alongside 24/7 live flowing traffic.
Running sand at a 5m depth in the bed of the river was the biggest challenge faced whilst digging foundations, along with a 450mm water main running two metres adjacent to the new downstream spandrel wall. Sheet piling had to be carried out to protect the water main.
An important aspect of the project was to ensure that works carried out in the water did not interfere with river habitat. This had to be done in a specific window which was programmed in at the start to eliminate any need for a derogation licence.
McCabe Group worked closely and under instruction of Inland Fisheries Ireland representatives.
throughout the duration of the project. Inland Fisheries Ireland carried out electrofishing to remove and protect the fish life prior to works commencing within the water course and this was carried out four times during the works, removing eight different species of fish.
An ecological survey of the bridge found the presence of bats and these also had to be strictly protected, thus crevice bat boxes were installed under the supervision of the local bat ranger. The survey also found dippers, which are birds of conservation concern, and their nest had to be relocated and was highly protected by parks and wildlife.
Having begun life as a stone masonry specialist, McCabe Group is now widely known for delivering a vast range of project types including bridge rehabilitation, new structures, road widening and walkways as well as various other schemes across Cavan, Monaghan, Westmeath, Meath and into Dublin, covering the residential, commercial, healthcare, civils, restoration, pharmaceutical, science, dairy and industrial sectors.
“With regard to the bridge rehabilitation work, we started off on small schemes and worked our way up to major structural changes,” Declan notes. “We’ve done both vehicular bridges and pedestrian bridges and walkways. There’s a huge amount of unseen work that goes into bridge rehabilitation. You can see the walls above the surface but most of the work is in areas where you can’t see. Many of these structures were originally built to accommodate horses and carts and you must redesign and rebuild them so that they can carry full loads of heavy traffic for the next 150 years and more.
“As a rule, county councils don’t want to knock old structures down. They want to retain them, strengthen them, and give them a new life. The associated works that go with these projects – approaches, pipe laying, fencing, lighting, signage, walkways, greenways, etc. – also opened a big book of work for us.”
A stonemason like his father before him, Declan McCabe started out in 2007 with just three employees and – through diversifying and moving with the times, always with the emphasis on quality workmanship, customer service and the keenest attention to the most exacting detail – now oversees a team of up to 100 people between on-site and office staff.
The local strong element that underpins his business remains extremely important to the Cavan man and keen Crosserlough GAA clubman. “It’s great to be able to offer these services to clients in Cavan and surrounding counties.,” he concludes. “Most of the staff are here 12-15 years and nobody leaves – I’m very proud of that. They have built a relationship with us, and we try to work with them as best we can as their employer.
”McCabe Group prides itself on providing employment to the local community and surrounding areas, we also apply this when working in other parts of the county and country. We are heavily involved in the community through sponsorship of our local GAA Club Crosserlough which a lot of our employees are members and players off. We are firm believers that you are only as good as the people you employ which for us consists of excellent Contracts managers, Project managers, Quantity Surveyors, a great team in the office and skilled workers on site. In the future we look forward to diversifying further and taking on bigger and more challenging projects nationwide.”
McCabe Group,
Derrylea,
Ballyjamesduff,
County Cavan.
Tel: 049 8545011
Email: [email protected]
Web: mccabegroup.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, February 2024, Vol 10 No 2
