DavidF
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from Ireland.com
High winds delay erection of Spire again
By Kilian Doyle Last updated: 20-01-03, 15:37Engineers are readying themselves to install the fourth section of the Spire on Dublin’s O’Connell Street.
Plans to lift the length of stainless steel into place this morning were abandoned as strong winds whipped up around the capital.
However, a Dublin City Council spokesman told ireland.com that it was hoped the work could be carried out “within the next couple of hours”.
If conditions remained favourable this evening, engineers will continue working for as long as is practical, he said. However, “health and safety is paramount at all times.”
He said the plan was to have the final pieces in place in order to be able to make the final touches on the structure early tomorrow morning.
The first section was lowered into place by Europe’s biggest crane on December 18th. However, the break for Christmas holidays and intermittent high winds have slowed further progress.
The lowest section of the stainless steel monolith is swathed in a plastic covering, which will be removed at the official unveiling, either at the end of this month or early next month.
The three-section long Spire currently stands at 53 metres. When finished, it will be 120 metres high, seven times the height of the surrounding buildings on O’Connell Street and twice as high as the capital’s tallest building, Liberty Hall.
some pics of that flagpole can be seen here – http://www.usflag.com/poles/monsterInstall_400.html
I believe the red dimpled slabs at pedestrian crossings are primarily there to help visually impaired people locate safe street crossing points.
The first section is in place – the ‘Breaking News’ section of the Irish Times ( http://www.ireland.com ) have a picture available
Will tomorrow see the first section in place!!
This just gets better and better….
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=57044094&p=57x448xx
Looks like there will be no start to the Spire tomorrow!
From today’s Irish Times….
Design difficulties delay Spire again
By Kitty HollandThe erection of the Spire in Dublin has been delayed again amid fears that it may end up looking like a barber’s pole.
Mr Michael O’Neill, project engineer, dismissed reports that assembly of the monument would begin on Friday.
“There won’t be any activity before the weekend,” he said. He hoped things would begin to happen next week. “But we’ve got to get the finish right first.”
Mr O’Neill said two weeks ago, amid problems with the application of a protective masking material, it was “hard to predict” when the Spire would be ready for shipping to Dublin.
The protective masking material, necessary while the design is being applied to the surface, has now been successfully applied.However, there is now a problem because of a lack of consistency in the design application.
When the tiny beads of metal are shot at the stainless steel surface to polish and embellish it, in an engineering process known as shot-peening, “the design is having a tendency to stripe”, said Mr O’Neill.
“It’s making the design look a bit like a barber’s pole,” he said. “It has to be a consistent finish and getting that right takes a bit of time.
“It is only time, though, and it has to be right. If we got it wrong, if it looks ugly, no one would forgive us.”
Asked what was causing the inconsistency, he said there were “a hundred-and-one permutations” of factors that could be causing it, including “the pressure of the application, the nozzles, the shroud around the nozzles”.
The Spire, which is under construction at Radley Engineering in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, is in six sections. The first 10-metre section will be the first to have the design shot-peened on to the surface.
Experts in shot-peening from the Metal Improvement Company in London have arrived in Waterford to help apply the design, said Mr O’Neill.
At present, engineers were practising the application on waste metal.
“Once we get it right and start applying it, it will be a matter of two or three days to complete the application.
“I would reckon we would have news by the end of the week, on when it’s ready to come up to Dublin.”
Gardaà in Dungarvan say they still have not been given notice of when the first two sections will leave Radley Engineering works. According to Mr O’Neill, the sections will be escorted through each county by that county’s gardaà on a tarpaulin-covered lorry.
They will be brought to the outskirts of Dublin and held there until given clearance by the Dublin gardaà for the final journey to O’Connell Street, said Mr O’Neill.
According to http://www.esb.ie the chimney stacks are 680ft (207m) I think the spire will be 120m
I reckon it will be unveiled from beneath a giant sheet of silk (well silk-ish anyways) – once this has been pulled off it will be caught by the wind and blown over the trees along the top of the street. At this opportune moment the trees will be felled by mysterious folk… well it’s just a thought… 😀
Interesting photos of the Spire’s foundation
