Civil Engineering at University of Limerick

Congratulations to all of the winners of the Arup Awards! Senior Engineer, Peter Power, presented a range of awards to civil engineering students following their work on the Integrated Design Project. It was fitting to present the prizes on the Arup-designed Living Bridge!

Some great photographs from the UL sundial area last week as the students' work took the final step on its way from paper to reality. As Eddie noted on the day 'the buzz you get seeing the design you worked on come to life never goes away!'

Tasked with creating a walkway from the UL sundial through the trees and back, it's been a busy Easter week for CIVIL @ UL Year 2 students as they undertake the fabrication phase of the project. A key part of the project design phase was understanding the importance of life cycle assessment and determining the embodied carbon of each structure in an effort to minimise their environmental burden.

Learning surveying from a video is all well and good but you can't beat hands-on experience! Our third year students had their first taste of land surveying this week. Thanks to Eamon McAuliffe for sharing his experience and to the School of Engineering technicians for making this happen.

Many thanks to our American external examiners, Camilla Saviz and Steve Ressler, for detailed feedback following their comprehensive programme overview. We managed ok on-line but we're looking forward to a face-to-face reunion next year!

It is with great sadness that we share the sad news of the passing of Civil Engineering graduate Declan Sexton after an illness. Declan was a great student, classmate and friend throughout his time in UL. He engaged with all aspects of the programme, and as we picked out some photographs of his time with us it was hard to find one where he wasn’t smiling. From Ennistymon in Co Clare, Declan graduated from UL in 2015 before beginning his civil engineering career as a site engineer with Keltbray in London. Declan remained very close to his UL classmates and played hurling, to great success, with Brothers Pearse while in London.

Tribute from the Irish World: https://www.theirishworld.com/brothers-pearse-pay-tribute-to-gentleman-declan-sexton/

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Well done to all civil eng third years for presenting their Integrated Design Projects yesterday. Peter Power of Arup awarded a generous prize to Quintet Consulting Engineers, unanimously adjudged to have given the best presentation and Gary Lawlor of Lawlor Burns and Associates offered a prize to Laura Willis who produced the best site survey drawing. Thanks also to PUNCH Consulting Engineers for offering three judges! Good luck in your exams, students!

Supporters of the CIVIL @ UL programme, KOREC Group, showcased a range of state-of-the-art surveying equipment to Year 3 students yesterday including a hydrone for surveying riverbeds and the Trimble SX10 (combined total station and laser scanner) with which we had a bit of fun! Thanks Fran Mullally and CIVIL @ UL graduate Nick Lester for a great presentation. Thanks also to Eamon McAuliffe from Ncw Surveys Ltd for all of his support throughout the year!

Well done to all third year civil eng students for completing a thorough topograpical survey of the Punches Cross Student Village site as part of their Integrated Design Project. Next, they will draw up their survey on AutoCAD before completing their final designs! Thanks to Eamon McAuliffe for his support over the last few weeks helping students with their preparations. Thanks, also, to Lawlor Burns & Associates for supporting this learning opportunity by providing access to the site and for offering a €300 prize for the best site survey drawing. This should raise the standard!

Mixed conditions today but all civil eng students got some practice on the Leica and Trimble total stations.

Thanks very much to Alan Hogan and Matthew Keane from Keating Construction who offered detailed accounts of the progression of the new UL Student Centre.

Year 3 Civil Eng students are working in groups to provide access arrangements for a new mixed development in Castletroy. A wide range of possibilities are brainstormed in Session 1!

John O'Toole, who recently graduated, presented his paper at the Irish Transport Research Network (ITRN) Conference last week. His paper summarised his FYP in which he completed a Bikeabaility Index for Castletroy. Well done, John and best of luck with your civil engineering career.

CIVIL @ UL graduate, Kevin Moore, explaining how he got into running and how he's getting faster and faster!

https://www.runbrighton.com/stories-and-interviews/irish-kev/?fbclid=IwAR2-VhVdexefHL8rNxnDAa8gUQlU6mSJapoirJZ-aHaBluckRnXWuqGpU_U

Irish Kev AUGUST 2019: In a Sussex cross-country league match at Goodwood in 2016, Kevin Moore, originally from Tipperary, Ireland, finished in 4th place. AB Training Group’s Howard Bristow and James Turner …

Monami Construction carry out a wide range of civil eng projects and are offering, student, Conor Freeman great experience on a number of Dublin-based projects one of which is a fit-out at the Clayton Burlington Hotel.

Roger Condon is getting very unique experience on his work placement with Flynn Management & Contractors, most recently on a fit-out project for Facebook in Dublin.

Congratulations to James Corbett Hanly, Patrick Cregan, John Bailey, Wiktoria Biedron and
Jack Dillon who were awarded with the ‘Most Innovative Design’ for the combined Structural Analysis / Steel & Timber Design project.

The prize, which was kindly sponsored by the Institution of Civil Engineers, was presented to the Year 2 students by Eoin Lennon of Carey’s Building & Civil Engineering.

Eoin presented on the benefits of Institution of Civil Engineers membership and also on the Grousemount Wind Farm, a project he is currently working on with 38 turbines and 27km of access tracks over three mountains in Kerry.

There are many opportunities for CIVIL @ UL graduates to work with Ardmac, Bennett Construction, John Paul Construction, Mac Group, Duggan Brothers, Balfour Beatty, Cairn Homes, Glenveagh Properties, John Sisk & Son and Walls Construction, to name a few. If interested, contact David.

CIVIL @ UL Graduates, we would like your help as part of our accreditation renewal submission. Please complete the following survey related to your skillset upon graduating. It only takes fives minutes. Thanks.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EngPO-graduate

Great to see some familiar faces...

Final year civil eng students are learning much about what traffic engineers do while completing a Road Safety Audit of the design of a local transport project. In teams, students will review the design and develop proposals for improvements. Good luck to all!

The Annual Arup Awards were presented to civil engineering students in UL today. The event was held in Plassey House and was attended by faculty, students and family members of students.
The first prize was for the Integrated Design Project (IDP) Best Presentation which went to the team comprising Tianren Chen, Shane Crowley, Johnny Da Silva, Colum Fallon, Aaron Hackett and Cormac O’Driscoll.
The Best Site Appraisal Prize was won by the team of Xinyuan Dun, William Hynes, Stephen Shanahan, Niamh McCarthy, Rory Mulvihill and Chris Thomas.
The final prizes for the IDP were individual; the Best Structural Design Prize went to Donnacha Brouder and the Best Geotechnical Design was won by Johnny Da Silva.
The Arup Scholarship for Women in Civil Engineering was shared by Karen Robinson and Laura Willis.
Well done to all!

There is a fantastic job opportunity with Korec for a civil engineering graduate.
They were asking particularly for UL graduates!
https://www.korecgroup.com/opportunities/technical-support-ireland/

Final year students are finalising their designs for their transport projects. Good luck to all!

Final year civil eng students are getting stuck into their Transport projects providing access for a fictitious devel in Castletroy.

Congratulations to the civil engineering third year students for their high-quality Integrated Design Project presentations yesterday!

Students in teams completed a full structural engineering design for the new UL Student Centre during the semester. This involved taking architect’s drawings and geotechnical reports to carry out the analysis and design for a multi-storey reinforced concrete building.

Key challenges of teams’ designs were presented to fellow students, faculty members, and invited guests from Punch Consulting Engineers, Garland Consulting Engineers and Arup Consulting Engineers.

Arup, a leading global engineering consultancy, supports the civil engineering programme each year through the Arup Foundation. This year Sarah Ryan, Geotechnical Engineer, presented the award for the “Best Presentation” to the student team comprising Eoin Gallaghue, Paul Browne, Fergal Coughlan David Walsh and Shane Desmond. Congratulations student engineers!