North City Operations Depot
North City Operations Depot is open for business
The Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy officially opened the North City Operations Depot on 20th June 2023.
“This is a fantastic day for Dublin City Council and for the Ballymun area,” said the Lord Mayor. “The new depot will provide high quality facilities to enable staff to operate more safely, efficiently and effectively. It will result in better services and help the City Council meet its climate action targets. It’s a major boost for Ballymun and crucially, it also frees up some existing depot sites for social housing.”
This state of the art staff-only facility includes:
- four-storey office and welfare building with locker rooms, shower facilities, serviced canteen, laundry facilities and drying rooms along with briefing rooms, training rooms and office accommodation
- new custom built corporate workshops including metal, painting, electrical, carpentry and fleet workshops as well as a signage and fleet branding unit
- large salt barn with capacity for 1,200 tonnes of road salt
- purpose-built Central Stores
- garage facility for parking designated vehicles requiring frost protection
- waste compaction area
- vehicle wash area
- equipment storage areas
- multi storey car park accommodating over 100 small fleet vehicles, approximately 200 staff vehicles and over 200 bicycle spaces
Almost 600 staff have relocated into the new depot from 16 smaller depots around the north side of the city and Marrowbone Lane. The purpose-built depot brings together operations from waste management, housing maintenance, electrical services, public lighting, traffic, surface water maintenance, drainage planning and road maintenance into one campus for the first time.
The land on which some of these smaller depots are located will now be released for more appropriate development including the provision of much needed social housing units.
Construction work began on the site, which is opposite IKEA, in May 2021 following the easing of Covid restrictions. The budget for the North City Operations Depot was €74.4m and while the final cost won’t be available for a few months, the project is on track to come in on budget.
The new depot includes a range of landscape features which greatly enhances biodiversity in the area including a new pond, tree planting and new wildflower meadow planting.
As well as incorporating ground based (horizontal) landscape features, the new depot also makes use of vertical features through the use of vertical Living Wall landscape. On the northern and southern elevations of the Multi-Story carpark a series of vertical planting bays have been provided which not only provide an attractive appearance but also make a real contribution to the environment.
This Living Wall feature assists in cleaning the air through entrapment of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter and also supports habitat for insects and birdlife.
There is a new Civic Amenity recycling centre beside the depot, which is open to the public and facilitates recycling of all the normal dry recyclables (including paper / cans / tetra pak / cardboard / glass bottles / plastic bottles), as well as other items such as electrical goods and bulky waste.
Construction work is now complete on the North City Operations Depot
Purcell Construction Ltd has been awarded the contract to construct the new depot and work on site is underway. COVID restrictions on construction were eased from 4th May 2021 allowing the Contractor to mobilise and commence construction. The depot site is directly opposite IKEA and Decathlon in Ballymun and the residential developments of Carton Way, Carton Lane and St. Margaret’s Halting Site lie to the south of the site, along with Ballymun Industrial Estate. The site is owned by Dublin City Council and was selected for a number of reasons including its accessibility to a good network of roads, appropriate zoning for depot use and it is a site designated for redevelopment in the Ballymun Local Area Plan.
NCOD Design
The dedicated staff-only depot facility will comprise of an office and welfare building with briefing rooms, training rooms, office accommodation, a serviced canteen, locker rooms, shower facilities, laundry facilities and drying room. Adjoining the office building, there will be a multi-storey car park accommodating over 100 small fleet vehicles and approximately 200 staff vehicles as well as 220 bicycle spaces. There will be a garage facility for parking of designated vehicles that require frost protection e.g. gully machines. The depot also includes a large salt barn with capacity for 1200 tonnes of road salt.
There will be a number of new operations workshops within the development including metal, painting, electrical, carpentry and fleet workshops as well as a signage and fleet branding unit. The fleet, paint, metal and signage units will all operate on a corporate basis. There will also be a purpose-built Central Stores. The yard area is divided into various zones including designated spaces for larger vehicles, a waste compaction area, vehicle wash area and equipment storage areas.
Civic Amenity Recycling Centre
The development also includes a new Civic Amenity recycling centre beside the depot – this recycling centre will be open to the public and will facilitate recycling of all the normal dry recyclables (including paper / cans / tetra pak / cardboard / glass bottles / plastic bottles), as well as other items such as electrical goods and bulky waste.
Benefits of the New Depot
The new depot will:
- provide high quality facilities for the City Council’s Direct Labour Staff that will enable them to operate safely, efficiently and effectively
- release existing depot sites for more appropriate development including the provision of circa 750 social housing units
- help the City Council to meet its climate action targets
- yield savings from reduced duplication and increased efficiency
- facilitate improved service delivery
- provide a major boost for the Ballymun area
- eliminate the adverse impacts of existing depots on residential amenity
Landscaping & Biodiversity
The proposals for the development include a range of landscape features which will greatly enhance biodiversity in the area including:
- a new attenuation pond which will encourage aquatic wildlife
- new tree planting scheme which will encourage breeding birds
- new wildflower meadow planting which will improve natural habitat for insects and pollination
Update on Construction Progress
Purcell Construction Ltd continues to make significant progress on site. The project has not been without its challenges. Purcell Construction were due to substantially finish in mid-November of this year but there have been some delays so the expected completion is likely to be early next year.
After construction is complete a period of time is needed for fit-out of the NCOD complex with furniture, equipment, information systems configuration etc. Once fit-out is complete the complex will be ready to open its doors to the staff transferring there from many existing Dublin City Council locations including the existing operational depots on the north side of the City, Civic Offices and Marrowbone Lane. It is expected that the NCOD will start to become operational in the early months of 2023.
See attached drawings for development location and layout
Contractor
Dublin City Council has engaged the following main contractor for the works:
Purcell Construction
Dublin Office
Office Block B, Hyde Square
654 South Circular Road
Dublin 8
D08 W9FD
T +353 1 471 3612
F +353 1 454 7292
Web www.purcell.ie
For further information or if any particular issues arise during the contract, please contact the dedicated 24 Hour Construction Response Line account established by Purcell Construction;
24hr Complaints Line & General Enquiries: 01 4825812
By email to;
Email: [email protected]
Or in writing to:
NCOD Community Liaison Officer,
Purcell Construction,
Office Block B, Hyde Square
654 South Circular Road
Dublin 8
D08 W9FD
Contractor working hours will be in accordance with the provisions of the Section 5 Planning and Development Act 2000-2002 (as amended). Normal working hours will be 8am to 7pm for construction works Monday to Friday but the site will open at 7am to allow access by staff and workers in preparation for works to commence at 8am and similarly 8am to 1pm on Saturday for construction works.
Acknowledgement
Dublin City Council apologises for any inconvenience caused and seeks the public’s understanding and cooperation during the course of these depot construction works
