Shoreward photography taken at the weekend of the new Dun Laoghaire Baths shows that significant progress has been made in all areas of but overall progress is slower than anticipated meaning the project that began two years ago will not now likely be completed until Spring 2021, a year later than planned.

The scheme to revive the old baths that lay derelict for over 30 years is divided into several work zones.

These zones include work to the new jetty, works to the new sea walls, works to the Pavilion and works to tie into the existing walkway at Newtownsmith. Currently works to the new jetty are nearing completion as Afloat's photos taken from the sea side reveal below.

Works at the Dun Laoghaire Baths Project is divided into several work zones Photo: Afloat

This has created a new viewing point with stunning vistas across Scotsman’s Bay to Sandycove Harbour. The new long bench on the jetty has been also been completed and this has allowed the rock armour facing the East Pier to commence.

The bathing steps at the new Dun Laoghaire Baths and the plinth ready to accept the Roger Casement statue Photo: Afloat

The construction of massive new sea walls supporting the new walkway at the back of the pavilion is well underway. Underpinning and stabilisation of the foundations to the old Pavilion building have been completed and the basement plant room is complete.

The new sea wall at the back of the Dun Laoghaire Baths Pavillion building Photo: Afloat

While significant progress has been made in all these areas overall progress in constructing the works is slower than anticipated. A combination of factors has contributed to this including a requirement to stabilise the retaining walls that support the Queens Road difficulty in constructing the jetty and the new sea walls.

Works to connect the path at Sandycove to the East Pier at Dun Laoghaire Baths site continue

As a consequence of this and the recent temporary closure of the site due to Covid-19, the project is now likely to be completed in Spring 2021.

A special plinth has been completed on Dun Laoghaire's newest pier at the old Victorian baths site for the statue of Roger Casement.

In 2016, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council commissioned a statue of the Irish nationalist, who was sentenced to death in 1916 for his role in planning the Easter Rising.

As regular Afloat readers will know, the statue is to be erected along the pierhead walkway connecting the parkland areas at Newtownsmith with the beach area at Queen’s Road.

The redevelopment of Dún Laoghaire’s baths, which have been closed since 1997, are nearing completion even though construction has stopped during the COVID-19 emergency.

The €2.75 million makeover will see the derelict pool being replaced by artists’ studios and a gallery café aswell as a pier to swim from and a landing jetty for small boats and kayaks.

Casement was born to an Anglo-Irish family in nearby Sandycove in 1864 and served as a British diplomat before helping to form the Irish Volunteers.

The new plinth at the end of the pierhead is the location of the new Roger Casement statue in Scotsman's Bay Photo: Afloat

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council commissioned the sculpture of Roger Casement, who was born in Sandycove, to commemorate the part he played in the 1916 Rising.

The winning artist, Mark Richards, was selected following a two-stage process, organised by Visual Artists Ireland on behalf of DLR. Four artists were shortlisted from 40 submissions to a call for expressions of interest. The sculpture will be a figurative representation of Roger Casement and will measure 3m in height, just over 1.5 life-size.

The new Roger Casement statue by Mark Richards for Dun Laoghaire Baths

The figure will be cast in bronze, which will mature and reflect the climatic conditions of the site as the years pass.

An Cathaoirleach of dlr, Cllr Tom Muphy, said, I think Mark Richards is a very worthy winner of the selection process. His design encapsulates the very essence of Roger Casement as he stood on the dock and said the words, “I landed in Ireland. It was to Ireland I came; to Ireland, I wanted to come.” Furthermore, by locating the piece amidst the arrangement of levels on the jetty at Dún Laoghaire Baths, suggests he is stepping ashore.”

The plinth will be inscribed in Irish on the west face and English on the north face. A QR code linking to a website that tells of the story of Roger Casement will be developed.

Works continue apace at Dublin Bay's newest pier and small boat facility at Dun Laoghaire. 

Work on the new jetty, works to the new sea walls, works to the Pavillion and works to tie into the existing walkway at Newtownsmith are all underway at the old bath site adjacent to Dun Laoghaire's East Pier. 

Works to the new jetty are nearing completion with a plinth in place ready for the statue of Roger Casement to arrive on site. 

The new jetty has created a new viewing point with stunning vistas across Scotsman’s Bay to Sandycove Harbour.

The new long bench on the jetty has been also been completed and this has allowed the rock armour facing the East Pier to commence.

The construction of massive new sea walls supporting the new walkway at the back of the pavilion is well underway. Underpinning and stabilisation of the foundations to the old Pavilion building have been completed and the basement plant room is complete.

While significant progress has been made in all these areas overall progress in constructing the council say work is slower than anticipated. A combination of factors has contributed to this including a requirement to stabilise the retaining walls that support the Queens Road difficulty in constructing the jetty and the new sea walls.

As a consequence, the project is now likely to be completed in late Summer 2020.

Progress on the redevelopment of the Dun Laoghaire Baths site on Dublin Bay continues apace with part of the newly-built pier and jetty now clearly visible in the Scotsman's Bay area at the back of the East Pier.

When finished the jetty will provide access to the water's edge for swimmers and landing points for canoes, kayaks and other water sports equipment. The new pier will extend approximately 15m beyond the end of an existing concrete feature permitting swimmers to enter deep water clear of the rocks at low tide. 

A newly commissioned statue of local former Sandycove resident and Irish nationalist Roger Casement will be sited at the end of the new pier. 

The new baths development for Dun Laoghaire showing the new swim jetty

As Afloat.ie previously reported, the new Dún Laoghaire Baths, which has been designed by DLR Architects' Department, will see a new public café linked to an outdoor terrace with views over the Bay, along with studio workspaces for artists and new lifeguard facilities. New public toilet facilities at street level will be fully accessible for the mobility impaired.

The new Roger Casement statue destined for a plinth at the end of the swim jetty

#dublinbay - Rock armour delivered for the Dun Laoghaire Baths redevelopment project, has been completed, though further work on the foreshore is underway to position boulders into place, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Around 4,300 tonnes of granite which was transported by barge from Falmouth, in the UK, is to be used to provide coastal protection from erosion at the site and associated newly built jetty on Scotsman's Bay.

Coastal works involved the barge Selina which self-discharged the rocks onto the foreshore, while under the assistance of tugs Husky and MTS Indus. Originally the delivery of rocks to the site along Newtownsmith was to have taken a fortnight, however weather conditions hampered such efforts.

Making a splash - The Barge Selina deposits rock armour in Scotsman's Bay. Photo: Afloat.ie

The final load of boulders was taken from Dun Laoghaire Harbour to the neighbouring bay and on Thursday, MTS Indus towed the barge back to the Cornish port.

The jetty jutting into Scotsman's Bay at the €10m baths project developed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, involves heavy machinery putting into place the rock armour by forming in layers. As for those lower and inner layers, they will be constructed using locally sourced granite of smaller rock sizes.

In total there is approximately 6,000 tonnes of rock armour being placed.

The public amenity will have changing areas that will provide access to the water's edge for swimmers and at the jetty, landing points for canoes, kayaks and other water sports equipment.

For further details click here on the overall project built by SIAC Construction which is due to be completed in Spring 2020.

#DublinBay - The rock armour used at the site of the Dun Laoghaire Baths redevelopment project costing €10 million, can each weigh up to 6 tonnes, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Works on the coastal site between Dun Laoghaire Harbour's East Pier and Newtownsmith, began 10 days ago though since then bad weather has hampered in the dumping of the rocks.

Where times have been favourable, tugs have towed the 6,000 tonne barge, Selina, from the harbour around into Scotsmans Bay where a trio of grab excavators on board dump the rocks on to the foreshore. At this location is where the old baths site has lain derelict for more than two decades.

The boulders are then repositoned into place to act as rock armour so that the new jetty also for use by small craft in the baths project, will be protected from coastal erosion.

The public amenity is a project of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which is to transform the seafront and reinvent the area as a destination for swimmers and sports enthusiasts and draw visitors from far and wide to the borough.

In the meantime, such sea based operations of the project to install the rock armour, have involved the MTS Indus of UK based Marine & Towage Services Ltd of Brixham, Devon. In addition the services of Husky belonging to Wicklow Port based Alpha Marine which has been retained during the sea defence process.

MTS Indus is a single-screw multi-purpose tug with a bollard pull of 24 tonnes, that was also responsible in towing the Selina to Dun Laoghaire last month. On arrival to the harbour, the barge laden with rock armour from Falmouth, Cornwall, berthed at St. Michaels Pier, which has since acted as base in between works carried out subject to weather and tidal conditions.

When Selina has been towed outside the harbour by MTS Indus this is where Husky, a twin-screw, tug/workboat with advantage of a shallow draft has operated in close proximity of the foreshore (as shown in the photo above). The tug remains alongside the barge to hold into position to enable more accurate disposal of rocks grabbed by the excavators into the water. 

The Belfast registered tug has undertaken many projects elsewhere, among them in the UK at Shoreham Harbour for a windfarm project of the Sussex coast as Alfoat reported last year.

As for the Irish project's additional facilities, they are to include a cafe and studio work spaces for artists. These features in the overall project that has been designed in house by DLRCoCo own architectural department.

The contract for the project from the council was awarded in a joint venture between SIAC Construction and Mantovani Group and is scheduled for completion in Spring 2020.

#DublinBay - Works on the redeveloped Dun Laoghaire Baths project at Newtownsmith reached a significant milestone given the arrival this morning by sea of the first load of rock armour to protect a newly built jetty, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As Afloat previously reported a consignment of huge granite boulders arrived last month into Dun Laoghaire Harbour by barge since identified as the Selina. The rock armour loaded in Falmouth, Cornwall, has remained in the Irish port for almost a fortnight but is now ready to be installed to protect the new Scotsman's Bay jetty quay from erosion. 

The jetty forms part of the Dun Laoghaire Baths site and is Dublin Bay's newest quay for swimming and fishing.  In addition, the facility is also intended to be an embarkation point for small boats and canoes setting off into Scotsman's Bay, located between the harbour's East Pier and Sandycove. The public amenity project for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council was contracted to SIAC Construction, while the design was carried out by DLR's Architects' Department, which will see a new public café linked to an outdoor terrace with views over both bays, along with studio workspaces for artists and new lifeguard facilities. 

At 84m long Selina and with a beam of 20m the barge was towed by Wicklow based Alphamarine's Husky at the stern while Brixham based Marine & Towage Services MTS Indus took charge at the bow. In addition, prior to departing Dun Laoghaire Harbour, a pilot from Dublin Port Company cutter Liffey embarked to assist operations that saw the flotilla round the East Pier into Scotsman's Bay where the workboats are in close proximity of the rocky coastline. 

Tugs Husky and MTS Indus with barge Selina offload rock armour in Scotsmans bay Photo: Afloat.ie

According to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, the rock armour will be stockpiled adjacent to the new jetty until it is ready to be placed into a more precise allocation. This will require off-loading of the barge by using several diggers on board, however, the operation only be carried out typically during a 3 to 4-hour window at high tide level. The operation may take between 3 to 4 high tide cycles before the work is completed to surround the jetty that is weather permitting expected to take a fortnight to complete.

DLRCoCo added during the rock armour process, there may be increased noise levels in the off-loading operations and that they apologised for any inconvenience this may cause.

As sea works continue apace at the old Baths site at Dun Laoghaire, the new jetty to provide access to the water’s edge for swimmers and landing points for kayaks, canoes and stand-up paddleboards is clearly taking shape on the South Dublin shoreline, as our photo above illustrates.

As Afloat.ie has previously reported, the works are part of a redevelopment of the old baths that had been left in a state of dereliction by the council for over 20 years.

When finished the new pier will offer a much-needed point of access to Dublin Bay for small boats and canoes and sea swimmers.

Work continues apace for new boating facilities on Dublin Bay at the old Dun Laoghaire Baths site in Sandycove.

Over the next couple of months, the final elements of the pier construction will be installed, including caisson units (which look like large hollow bricks) along each side of the pier foundation.

As Afloat.ie has previously reported, the works are part of a redevelopment of the old baths that had been left in a state of dereliction by the council for over 20 years.

When finished the new pier will offer a much-needed point of access to Dublin Bay for small boats and canoes and sea swimmers.

Marine works continue at the new Dún Laoghaire Baths site, where the old baths buildings have now either been completely demolished or retained for the next stage of the project that will ultimately see a new public café linked to an outdoor terrace with views over the Bay.

Dun Laoghaire County Council also say there will be studio workspaces for artists and new lifeguard facilities. It's hard to see progress from seaward with new hoardings erected recently but Afloat.ie's landward photo (above) shows off the extent of works to date.

As Afloat.ie reported previously, new public toilet facilities at street level will be fully accessible and a new jetty and changing areas will provide access to the water's edge for swimmers and landing points for canoes, kayaks and other water sports equipment.

(Above) The derelict Baths site at Dun Laoghaire before works commenced and below an artist's impression of the finished job