Students visit Foyle projects

The students from the Higher National Diploma and Higher National Certificate course started their day’s tour with a visit to the landmark Peace Bridge project, which has a value of 13m, and then proceeded to tour the Ebrington complex where they explored the major 5m public square and events area, which is to be completed for April 2011.

The students then made their way to the refurbished jetty and river works at Fort George, a project costing 1.2m. Standing at the jetty, and witnessing the scale of the ongoing projects brought many of the classroom discussions on structural and other civil engineering elements to life for the North West Regional College students.

The latter part of the day was taken up by a visit to the 7m Public Realm Works in Guildhall Square and Waterloo Place/Street.

Civil Engineering Lecturer John Boyle explained that the students are privileged to have the opportunity to witness such large scale projects on their doorstep. “The city is in the midst of some of the most ground-breaking developments in many years. With infrastructure and regeneration a part of the City of Culture bid, it is an exciting time for Civil Engineering students, and we are lucky to be able to study these projects as they progress.”

With more time the students could also have visited a range of other civil engineering developments including the 5m Foyle Bridge / Culmore Road roundabout; the pipe drilling/ trenchless technology at Racecourse Road; the proposed boat moorings at Rockmills; the 13m major development at North West Regional College; the pumping station / pipelines at the Duke St end of the Craigavon Bridge, and the 24m A2 Maydown dual carriageway.

All of this comes as the College’s students look forward to the commencement of the 800m construction of Ireland’s largest ever motorway project in 2012 on the A5, and an announcement on the 350m dual carriageway on the A6 from Gransha to Dungiven, plus other projects such as the Buncrana Road major upgrades and a variety of major road schemes across the country.

With such a vast array of developments in the North West, it looks like the students won’t have far to venture from their College workshops to see Civil Engineering in action for many years to come.