Southdowns acted as expert witnesses on behalf of the Dublin Port Tunnel project’s Employer (Irish National Roads Authority and Dublin City Council). Significant groundborne noise and vibration issues had arisen as a result of tunnel boring through hard rock lying beneath residential communities resulting in withdrawal of the 24 hr working for tunnel construction. The contractor pursued the employer for 16 million Euros in compensation following completion of the project.
Southdowns staff represented the client at a series of informal and formal hearings between the project manager and the contractor, and presented expert testimony at Conciliation and District Adjudication Board hearings. Southdowns successfully demonstrated that the project manager had acted reasonably in curtailing tunnel boring working hours by utilising the contractor’s own monitoring results.
The work required in depth investigation into anticipated and measured groundborne noise and vibration that occurred during the works, and the interpretation of the levels and the likely subjective response from residents.
