Skip to main content

Irish bridge's CE marking

With the aid of services provided by Laidler Associates the refurbished Portumna road bridge in Galway has become the first bridge in the Ireland to carry European CE marking. The CE marking was needed because the swing bridge has moving parts, and falls within the scope of the Machinery Directive.
February 14, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Portumna Bridge during refurbishment
With the aid of services provided by 1398 Laidler Associates the refurbished Portumna road bridge in Galway has become the first bridge in the Ireland to carry European CE marking.

The CE marking was needed because the swing bridge has moving parts, and falls within the scope of the Machinery Directive.

Spanning the Shannon River, the E2.2 million Portumna Bridge was originally built in 1911 and is part of the busy N65 route that links the counties of Galway and Tipperary.

When it was decided that this ageing but vital structure needed to be refurbished, Waterways Ireland awarded the order for design specification, contract preparation and project supervision to Royal Haskoning, who appointed L&M Keating to carry out the building and installation work.

Royal Haskoning recommended that Laidler Associates should be used to provide the consultancy services needed to ensure that the bridge met all relevant legal requirements and, in particular the requirements for CE marking. After these preliminary sessions, Laidler Associates carried out detailed hazard assessments covering all aspects of the bridge design and construction. Consultants from the company also visited the site during the construction work and, when the work was complete, they carried out a detailed final inspection before certifying the structure.

Jane Arbuckle, technical director, mechanical and electrical engineering at Royal Haskoning, said: "The regulatory compliance and certification work carried out for us by Laidler Associates went very smoothly."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Concrete barriers help to minimise accidents
    July 12, 2012
    Concrete barriers offer a highway safety solution - Mike Woof writes. Concrete safety barriers are being installed on many of Europe's major highways, particularly for use as centre lane dividers. The strength and durability of concrete barriers can help reduce the risk of cross over accidents, one of several topics raised at a conference in Brussels on concrete highway barriers organised by the European Concrete Paving Association, EUPAVE. The conference was opened by Yves Deceoene of the IRF's Belgian ex
  • Mott MacDonald, WYG and Atkins consortium win Western Balkans contract
    July 2, 2012
    A consortium led by Mott MacDonald and including WYG and Atkins has secured a major European Commission contract to help strengthen vital infrastructure work across the Western Balkans. The consortium will provide technical support as part of the Infrastructure Projects' Facility (IPF) of the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF). The IPF prepares priority infrastructure projects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo. The
  • Corridor for prosperity: The 5G Road
    June 14, 2019
    The next generation of highways will be a matrix of smart, intelligent and dynamic technologies that lower maintenance costs and ensure user safety. But challenges lie ahead, as Geoff Hadwick discovered in Dubrovnik The fifth-generation road is about to provide the world’s highway authorities with a big leap forward. This “forever-open”, self-healing road will integrate innovation into infrastructure, vehicles and entire intelligent transport systems, says Adewole Adesiyun, deputy secretary general of
  • Montreal’s new Champlain Bridge is shaping up for Christmas
    September 10, 2018
    Montreal’s Champlain Bridges - one going up, one coming down, reports David Arminas The importance of the new Champlain Bridge to Montreal and Canada can’t be overstated, given the crumbling nature of the not-so-old original Champlain Bridge. The original steel truss affair across the St Lawrence River and the adjacent St Lawrence Seaway canal is “a lifeline for residents and businesses” in greater Montréal, according to the national Auditor General - the public sector spending watchdog. “It accommodates