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Metal stitching helps to restore bridge in Dublin

A Metalock Engineering product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 1, 2002

As part of the restoration of the Ha'Penny Bridge (the Liffey Bridge) across the River Liffey in Dublin, metal stitching techniques were used to repaired the damaged parts

As part of the restoration of the Ha'Penny Bridge across the River Liffey in Dublin, Metalock Engineering UK carried out a series of magnetic particle inspection checks on various critical components and, using its Metalock metal stitching techniques repaired the damaged parts for Irishenco Construction, main contractors for the project.

The bridge is a List 1 structure in the Dublin Corporation Development plan and takes its name from the Ha'Penny toll collected between its construction in 1816 to the toll ending in 1915.

Although its present official name is the Liffey Bridge, it was originally the Wellington Bridge and comprises an assembly of elliptical arch ribs.

These were most probably cast in the Coalbrookdale Works in Shropshire from a design attributed to Thomas Telford.

Ha'penny bridge was closed for the restoration in March last year and a one-piece Bailey bridge located alongside for pedestrian crossing.

The deck was removed and new sections fabricated to match the bridge's distorted elliptical shape.

New ductile iron ornamental railing sections have also been cast.

The project, including repainting in its original off-white colour, was completed towards the end of 2001 and the bridge is now back in service.

Most of Metalock's work involved tie-rod end caps, 43 of which had cracks and were repaired, and cracked diaphragm rib plates.

Additionally, Metalocking was used to repair construction webs and install new corbel sections to replace those that had broken off over the years.

Most of the damage to the components that needed repair had been caused by expansion due to corrosion from moisture ingress following the breakdown of joint sealing materials.

Due to the significance of the bridge as an icon of the City, great care and attention was given to the restoration process and to allay the concerns of various heritage groups, as much of the original material as possible was either repaired or refurbished.

Only severely damaged and unusable components were remanufactured.

The tie-rod end caps, for example could have been replaced with new, but the Metalock process enabled effective repair of the originals, in-situ.

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