Haulbowline Site Remediation Update - October 2007

Cork County Council 2/10/07

Demolition of the steelworks was completed in the first quarter of 2007. Steel, concrete and masonry structures across the site were razed, the main exception being the 19th century stone buidings which are National Monuments. In the aftermath, numerous piles of demolition residues were scattered across the site, and a specification was prepared for a full surface clearance. A contract for this clearance was signed by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government with Hammond Lane Metal Company in August. Work has now commenced and will last several months. There will be a strong emphasis in this phase on recycling as much material as possible, and concrete and masonry will be crushed and stockpiled or used to back-fill surface pits. Residual waste will be removed from site in compliance with environmental regulations.

The clearance contract also covers the removal of assorted steelworks waste from the surface and margins of the tiphead on the east side of Haulbowline. Separately, an environmental contractor is progressively removing a large pile of millscale (iron oxide) from the north of the tip. This material has been screened to extract metallic and other inclusions and is being shipped to Scandinavia for recycling. However, slag heaps will remain in situ for the time being, pending decisions on remediation and development.

Of the set of six stone buildings straddling the steelworks site and the Naval Base, two are on the steelworks site and in generally poor condition. Work is in hand to protect these structures, in particular the building damaged in the fire of January 2001. This building has now been cleared, leaving the original 19th century structure. A temporary roof is to be installed to allow the building to dry out.
During the ground investigation in the autumn of 2005 a number of boreholes were sunk across the main site and the tiphead. Intermittent monitoring of some of these is being carried out at intervals to watch for any changes in ground condition with time. Borehole water levels have also been tracked to observe the extent of tidal influence.

Source