Displaying items by tag: Damen Group

8th October 2011

Open House Dublin: Public Tours of Irish Lights Headquarters

As part of this year's Open House Dublin event, the striking headquarters of the Commissioners of Irish Lights building in Dún Laoghaire Harbour will be open to the public tomorrow, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The iconic coastal landmark building built by Scott Tallon Walker Architects in 2008, consists of two-interconnected buildings that house offices and a marine depot. They utilise many eco-friendly and innovative technologies to ensure sustainable building design and energy efficiency.

Regular guided tours will provide a fascinating insight into the work of the Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL). The tours (first-come basis) are also available for disabled access and they start from 12 noon to 5pm, noting the last tour is 4.30pm. Location: Harbour Road, Dún Laoghaire.

Like most of the tours and events in Open House Dublin, there is no pre-booking required. Entry is FREE and on a first-come basis. For more information about what to expect from your tour or event, check the How It Works by clicking HERE.

CIL operate the 79m aids-to-navigation tender ILV Granuaile which is based at her homeport of Dun Laoghaire. The 2,625grt tender was built by the Dutch Damen Shipyard group in Galati, Romania. She was then towed to The Netherlands where further outfitting work was conducted. She entered service in 2000 and she is the third tender to be named after the Mayo pirate queen.

Occasionally ILV Granuaile can be seen moored alongside the berth adjacant to the marine depot accessed through Dun Laoghaire Marina, though she mostly calls to the harbour's western bight area, using her DP (dynamic-positioning) mode. Her design is ideally suited for buoy and chain work, search and rescue, salvage and recovery, towing, hydrographic applications, and ROV work.

She is shallow drafted at 4.4m and has heavy lifting equipment including a 20 tonne aft-mounted crane with an outreach of 20m. Accommodation is for a crew of 16 in addition there are cabins for a further 10 persons.

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Competitions

The most significant events for the Half Ton Class has been the annual Half Ton Cup which was sailed under the IOR rules until 1993. More recently this has been replaced with the Half Ton Classics Cup. The venue of the event moved from continent to continent with over-representation on French or British ports. In later years the event is held biennially. Initially, it was proposed to hold events in Ireland, Britain and France by rotation. However, it was the Belgians who took the ball and ran with it. The Class is now managed from Belgium.