NI Water completes reinstatement of Derry's Foyle Street Car Park

NI Water’s contractor for the £4.2m water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades on Foyle Street has completed reinstatement of Foyle Street Car Park to close out this major city-centre project ahead of programme.

Maghera-based BSG handed back the use of the car park to Derry City & Strabane District Council today (Friday, August 22) following its year-long use as a temporary bus station to accommodate the essential pipelaying on Foyle Street.

Meeting with local stakeholders to mark the completion of work, NI Water Senior Project Manager, Robert McLean stated: “As a result of the excellent progress made by our contractor BSG on the infrastructure improvements, NI Water was able to reopen Foyle Street to Metro bus services around 5 weeks ahead of programme which allowed us to reinstate the car park earlier than originally planned.

“The work on Foyle Street has been a mammoth undertaking and I’d like to pay tribute to the strenuous efforts exerted by BSG, their workforce and their many sub-contractors to complete the improvements and reinstatement works ahead of programme.

“I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders – including local businesses - who have worked with and supported NI Water in the planning and execution of the water and wastewater upgrades on Foyle Street. This significant NI Water investment will deliver environmental benefits – including reduced risk of out-of-sewer flooding in the area – and will help support localised development in the short term.”

Over 130 site operatives - including apprentices, placement students and engineering trainees - have been employed on the Foyle Street project, which involved the upgrade of the 100-year-old water and wastewater infrastructure between Shipquay Place and Water Street.

Clocking up almost 34,000 manhours, the BSG workforce has successfully installed 400m of dedicated stormwater sewer and new foul sewer - to separate this section of the combined system - as well as 170m of new watermain. Over 50 connections to properties on Foyle Street were also undertaken to completely modernise the water and wastewater network in this part of the city.

Commenting on the challenges faced and the proactive approach to stakeholder engagement, NI Water Project Manager, Kieran Grant added:

“The construction work, which commenced last August, was technically challenging as the existing watermain and combined sewer had to be kept live throughout the work. In addition, BSG had to negotiate a multitude of other services in the area to lay the new pipes. Innovative techniques were employed to complete the work to excavate safely around services.

“NI Water and our project team from Arup and BSG engaged at a very early stage with stakeholders in the area and put in place a dedicated liaison officer for the duration of the project. To show our commitment to working respectively, the project was registered onto the ‘Considerate Constructors’ Scheme and attained top marks (“Excellent” score of 45/45), highlighting the team’s high standards in safety, quality, and proactive community engagement.

“During the work, the project team was pleased to attend school visits, employ local street artists and work with the City Centre Initiative (CCI) to provide a public defibrillator on Foyle Street.

“I would like to thank Arup and BSG and the many other people who have worked alongside the project team to successfully complete this important work.”