The European-funded Sail West Programme was established with the overall aims of developing yachting links between the west coast of Scotland, the north coast of Northern Ireland and the west coast of Ireland and improving the infrastructure for sailors on the shared maritime region off the coasts of western Scotland, Sligo, Donegal and Northern Ireland. As part of this programme, Donegal County Council undertook to construct a safe haven for vessels at Bunagee on the northern shores of Inishowen near Malin Head.
Doran Consulting was appointed to project manage and lead the design of the scheme at Bunagee. This involved managing the preliminary site investigations, preliminary designs, detailed wave modelling of the proposed breakwaters, producing cost estimates and environmental reports as required for the planning process.
The preferred scheme identified was the construction of a rock armour breakwater to the end of the existing pier in Bunagee Harbour, to provide shelter for the proposed berthing pontoons which can accommodate up to 17 vessels. Due to the expected wave climate, heavy duty precast concrete, breakwater type pontoons were specified, along with a tide-levelling gangway. We designed the breakwater and pontoon layout specifying the core material & primary & secondary rock armour to the breakwater. We also specified the main pontoons, finger pontoons, fendering, aids to navigation, deck finishes, access gangways, services and service pedestals as well as access control.
Despite being relatively small in size and having restricted access along a single road, Bunagee Harbour is a busy location as it supports fishing operations and tourism. We met with local harbour users and councillors on a number of occasions to brief them on the scheme and identify harbour user needs and subsequently the tender documentation was drafted to accommodate the needs of the harbour users identified during these meetings.
We prepared the tender docs in line with the “Public Works Contract for Civil Engineering Works Designed by the Employer” and managed the tender procedure.