FOLLOWING the awarding of the contract to construct the new North Runway at Dublin Airport, it is planned to fill as many of the employment positions as possible from the local community.
Dublin Airport Authority (daa) has awarded the contract to a joint venture comprising Irish firm Roadbridge and Spanish infrastructure company FCC Construcción (FCC).
Approximately 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.
To maximise local employment opportunities in the project, Roadbridge FCC will be working closely with Fingal-based development company ‘Empower’ and daa to “fill as many positions as possible from within the local community”.
Meanwhile, the daa said it is mindful of its local communities.
“Mitigation measures such as a voluntary house purchase scheme and a sound insulation programme for homes that will be affected by the new runway are already in place,” it said.
Dublin Airport is also investing €10 million in a community fund that will support a wide range of local initiatives over the next 25 years and has bought land in the area, where it plans to create a new public park.
Mobilisation and preparatory site works for the new North Runway are to begin immediately, and groundworks will start in January.
Construction of the new 3.1km 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 North Runway will be built at no cost to the State – as Dublin Airport Authority is not funded by the taxpayer – and will support the creation of 31,200 new Irish jobs and €2.2 billion in additional economic activity by 2043.
Chief executive of the daa Dalton Philips said: “We are delighted to award this key contract to Roadbridge FCC and to move to the next phase of our plans.
“North Runway is an essential project for Ireland, as it will position the country for future economic growth for many decades to come.
“North Runway isn’t Dublin’s new runway; it is Ireland’s new runway and it will boost the performance of Irish tourism, trade and foreign direct investment in a post-Brexit world.”
Roadbridge managing director Conor Gilligan said the Limerick-based company was honoured to be part of the consortium that will build North Runway.
“We are thrilled to be involved with such a prestigious and vital national project,” Mr Gilligan said.
FCC Construcción’s UK & Ireland Director Miguel Ángel Mayor said FCC had a strong track record in Ireland and looked forward to working closely with daa to build the new runway.
“We have been operating successfully in Ireland for many years and also have significant experience of runway construction both in Europe and South America, having built more than 4.5 million sq m of airport runways,” he said.
The new runway will be located approximately 1.6km north of Dublin Airport’s current main runway and will be entirely built on land owned by the airport.