The South-North pipeline will seen many households in Co. Louth avail of natural gas and Bord Gais engineer Bobby Gleeson and Sicim Roadbridge Ltd project manager Paul Mallon spoke to the Wee County Yearbook about how they new line will be of benefit to the community. Natural gas has proven to be one of the cheapest fuels used to heat homes and with the ever increasing price of oil, it looks as if more amore householders will avail of the service. Louth has being undergoing many changes lately as the Celtic Tiger has seen many new industrial and residential developments built in the last few years, while the fortunes of the County football team has also took a turn for the better in 2006. Winning two major titles was a major boost to the Wee County and hopes are high that in 2007 more silverware can be obtained. Louth manager Eamonn McEnaney has worked wonders with the side and they are playing a brand of football that has enthralled not only their own supporters, but many GAA supporters around the country. All this, plus the fact that a new gas line has been laid in the county and the future of Louth looks very bright indeed, much to the delight of all concerned. Bord Gais have teamed up with Limerick based construction firm Roadbridge and Italian Civil Engineering Company Sicim Ltd in a joint venture to lay the pipeline. Construction of the 156km South-North pipeline commenced in March 2006 and is due for completion early in 2007. As stated this new pipeline will run from Gormanstown in Co. Meath to Ballyclare in Co. Antrim, where it will link in with the North-West pipeline, which runs from Carrickfergus to Coolkeeragh power station. Once the South-North pipeline crosses the border, the pipeline route will take it west of Newry, west of Banbridge, east of the Craigavon area and east of Antrim. This will facilitate construction of the gas networks to five more towns - Antrim, Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon and Newry. The project was split into two phases with Roadbridge/Sicim overseeing the Southern part of the development, which comprises of 81km, while the remaining 75km north of the border is being laid by the Lagan Group and Belgium based firm Denys. Prior to finalising the route, BGE (Northern Ireland) carried out an extensive public consultation programme. An Environmental Impact Assessment of the entire project was carried out by independent consultants to assess any potential adverse impact on the environment and in response BGE (Northern Ireland) instigated mitigating measures as required. "Construction work commenced before last Christmas in terms of environmental enabling works, for example hedgerows were cleared and checks were made for protected species. I have personal experience of gas pipeline projects being delayed due to the discovery of birds' nests on the proposed routes," said Bobby. "We also had to fence off the land before any of the construction work began. All construction work has now been finished and the pipeline is now mechanically complete and commissioned, it remains to complete the reinstatement of lands in 2007." Bobby also revealed that the project caused little disruption to the roads during construction and although there were inevitably some delays, they were kept to a minimum. "We spent the minimum amount of time on the roads as possible in order to keep down roadblocks, while any mud or debris on the roads was immediately taken off with road sweepers." The project also involved the Louth County Council and sees the pipe line connect with sources in Kinsale and Scotland as part of the overall plan, which takes in most of the country. Bord Gáis Éireann (Bord Gáis) was established in 1976 and is a commercial State body operating in the energy industry. With over 540,000 gas customers and a turnover in 2005 of €857 million, Bord Gáis is wholly owned by the Government of Ireland. Bord Gáis employs 714 staff and is headquartered in Cork, Ireland. For many, Bord Gáis would be synonymous with natural gas. However, the structure of the energy industry has changed significantly since the introduction of market liberalisation and Bord Gáis now has a variety of roles within the gas industry in Ireland. In addition, Bord Gáis has expanded beyond its original base into the electricity supply market. Bord Gáis has two main businesses - Gas Transportation and Energy Supply. Sicim is a Construction Company established in 1962 and offering all type of services related to the installation of pipelines and relevant ancillary facilities for the transmission and distribution of oil, gas and water on international basis. Roadbridge Ltd. is one of Ireland's largest civil engineering contractors. The company has extensive experience of a variety of civil engineering projects in all types of Irish weather, ground conditions and environments. Incorporated in 1999, Roadbridge Ltd. is trading since 1967. The company ranks among the largest civil engineering contractors in Ireland. Roadbridge Ltd was officially formed in 1999 and now has a turnover in excess of €160 million per annum and growing. Paul Mallon is an engineer with Roadbridge and he has worked closely with the current South-North pipeline and revealed that joint ventures with Roadbridge and Sicim have become a regular occurrence in recent times. "It is generally the company that comes in with the best price that is successful in obtaining these jobs, while also the fact that Roadbridge and Sicim are very experienced in this type of work is a major factor too," said Paul. "This is not the first project that has been done for Bord Gais and hopefully there will be more in the future. Everything has run very smoothly so far and that makes a huge difference." If Louth footballers can pick up where they left off this year, then the Wee County will be one very happy place to live in the exceptionally near future. Tweet

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