Desk Top Study

MARSHES SHOPPING CENTER REDEVELOPMENT

G5 ENGINEERING

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Contents
1.0 Introduction...............................................................................................................................1
1.1 General..................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Proposed Development.........................................................................................................1
1.3 Scope of Works......................................................................................................................1
2.0 Site Characteristics....................................................................................................................1
2.1 Site Location and description.................................................................................................1
2.2 Site operation........................................................................................................................3
2.3 Available Site Investigation....................................................................................................3
3.0 Site History................................................................................................................................3
4.0 Site Environmental Setting.........................................................................................................5
4.1 Physical..................................................................................................................................5
4.2 Geology..................................................................................................................................5
4.3 Available Site Investigation data............................................................................................5
4.4 Hydrology and Hydrogeology................................................................................................6
4.5 Landfill sites...........................................................................................................................6
4.6 Potential Contamination........................................................................................................6
4.7 Other Environmental Issues...................................................................................................6
4.8 Other Environmental Issues...................................................................................................7
Bibliography...........................................................................................................................................8
Appendices.............................................................................................................................................i
Appendix A Site Overview...................................................................................................................i
Appendix B Historic mapping of site..................................................................................................ii
Appendix C Geological and Topographic Maps...............................................................................viii
Appendix D Existing Site services.................................................................................................xxviii
Appendix E Archaeological maps....................................................................................................xxx
Appendix F Previous Site Investigation........................................................................................xxxiv
Fyffes Dundalk Site investigation report..................................................................................xxxiv

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1.0 Introduction

1.1 General
Louth Properties are proposing to redevelop a derelict retail premises in the centre of Dundalk town
and the site of the Marshes Shopping Centre.

G5 Engineering have been engaged to undertake a desk study and to provide the specification for site
investigation in order to provide the information for the design.
This report details the desk study undertaken and proposes the site investigation to be undertaken.

This report has been completed in accordance with Engineers Ireland Specification for a Site
Investigation.

1.2 Proposed Development

The proposed development has not been confirmed but it will be assumed for the report to be retail
aligning with its surrounding environ.

1.3 Scope of Works

The report details data gathered from desk study of freely available information, an analysis of this
information, but did not include a visit to the site.

The desk study incorporated a review of

 Ordnance Survey Irelands historic maps of the site and surrounding area
 Locations of historic infrastructure at or close to the site
 OPW Flood maps covering the site and surrounding locality
 Topographic maps of the are including the site.
 EPA mapping of the Soils and Bedrock in the area of the site including the vulnerability
 NPWS maps of SAC and other environmental issues

2.0 Site Characteristics

2.1 Site Location and description
The site is located in the centre of Dundalk approximately 1KM from the Castletown river which feeds
into Dundalk Harbour, is 4km from the Irish Sea and is 2.7km from the M1 Motorway.
Coordinates of site are 54.001, -6.3991 and an aerial view of the site within Dundalk town and the
shopping centre are shown in Figure 2-1 and Figure 2-2

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Figure 2- 1 – Site location within Dundalk

Figure 2- 2 Site location within Marshes Shopping Centre

The site rectangular in shape, bordered to the South East and North East by the remainder of the
Marshes Shopping Centre and to West by a loading bay for the shopping centre. It is a derelict retail
unit which is to be demolished, including foundations in the early part of the redevelopment. The
existing unit is serviced for water, wastewater, power for the overall Marshes Shopping Centre. The
original planning application for the centre is Ref. 02520177, but the site investigation for this and
subsequent applications related to the shopping centre are unavailable.
There is substantial parking surrounding the site with access to the loading bay adjacent to the site
primarily from the south, with a small lane way given access from the north also. The neighbouring
land is largely development into commercial and resident use with a recently constructed school
bordering the overall shopping centre site, while there are some areas of undeveloped ground
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 apparent on the aerial views of the site. The site could be accessed at the north from Rampart Lane,
connected on the east by N52. Dundalk train station is located at around 1km from site.

2.2 Site operation

The proposed site for redevelopment is currently a derelict retail unit adjoining the remainder of the
operational Marshes Shopping Centre. The loading bay that services the Shopping Centre is to the west
of the site. There is a variety of developments close to the site including car parking, Commercial use,
residential, education, along with some vacant ground.

2.3 Available Site Investigation

The site investigation report for the original Shopping centre development and subsequent
modifications and expansion are recorded on the Louth County Council Website, Louthcoco.ie, but
there appeared unavailable at the time of this report, Planning Ref. 02520177.

3.0 Site History

The recent history of the site was traced using historical ordinance survey maps from Ordinance Survey
Ireland[ CITATION Ord \l 2057 ] and aerial photos provided[ CITATION Geo21 \l 2057 ] shown in
Appendix B. The is a stream that runs by in close proximity to the site and feeds into the transitional
area between the Castletown River and the inner Dundalk Bay. The site sits outside of the high,
medium, and low probability flood zones and is not recorded as having a flood event previously.
Although, it appears that some access roads have been affected by flooding.

The map from 1829 shows the site and its surrounds undeveloped and the remained that way through
to the end of the 19th Century with only an Athletic ground encroaching onto the wider area known as
the “Ramparts”. This athletic ground remained in place until its redevelopment into a Greyhound
stadium in the 1930’s which operated until its closure in 2000 following which it was demolished as
part of the Marches Shopping Centre development.

Through the 20th century there was significant development in the surrounding area, largely residential
development with some commercial development in certain area and a GAA field adjacent to the South
West Corner of the Shopping centre.

Searches of historic infrastructure in the area showed that there a Foundry, 2Nr. Mills and 4Nr. Railway
stations within 2KM of the site, locations of which are shown in Aerial Photographs in Appendix B, none
of which should impact the proposed development.

The most recent development in the neighbouring area of the site is a school, constructed in 2013,
located across Marshes Avenue from the existing Shopping centre. This may have implications for the
proposed redevelopment, especially in relation to the additional traffic in the area during the
construction phase.

Figure 3-1 and Figure 3-2 below show the existing water, sewerage, gas and ESB connections to the
site, although the exact locations will have to be confirmed with on-site investigation.

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Figure 3- 3

Figure 3- 4

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4.0 Site Environmental Setting
4.1 Physical
The site and its surrounds are at a level of circa 5m AOD[ CITATION Top21 \l 2057 ] on a low-lying area
of Marine sands and gravels. According to the OPW flood vulnerability mapping[ CITATION OPW \l 2057
] the area is not at rick of floods, although much of the area has been supplement with imported fill.

4.2 Geology
The site is shown on Geology maps[CITATION www21 \l 2057 ] to be a Calcareous red-Mica Greywacke
on the Clontail formation. This is a variety of Sandstone which can contain a wide spectrum of minerals
and can be found in thin or thick layers. The recorded description for a Geographical Survey,
[ CITATION Vua91 \l 2057 ] describes it as “ Green-grey, medium to thickly bedded, coarse and very fine
grained Tae greywackes, with dark grey, thinly bedded, poorly graded, quartzose fine sandstone to
siltstone units. Both lithologies contain distinctive brown-red coloured biotite”

The Quaternary Sediments for the site are Marine sands and clay, largely supplemented for
development purposes will imported fill. As you move towards the bay the bed work becomes a mix of
Estuarine silts and clays whereas moving inland the bedrock becomes a Till derived from lower
Palaeozoic Sandstones and shales with some Irish Till and Alluvium.

The EPA records of Radon [ CITATION EPA21 \l 2057 ] for the site and its surrounds 10KM quadrant,
implies that 5- 10% of buildings in the area will have radon levels above the reference level.

4.3 Available Site Investigation data

There is a previous Site Investigation Report done by Donnelly Troy, dated January 1996(appendix E),
for a proposed house development. The site was mainly low-lying and waterlogged and three
boreholes were drilled in soft surface conditions (No. 1-3), while one borehole(No. 4) was located on
filled ground, locations of the boreholes are shown in Figure 4-1
The findings of the previous site investigations are as follows, locations of the boreholes are shown in
Figure 4-1
At Boreholes 1 to 3, topsoil overlies a generally firm to stiff mottled silty clay which extends to an
average depth of 1.50 metres.
At Borehole 4, some fill deposits are noted to a depth of 1.00 metres. No upper mottled clay was noted
at Borehole 4. Below the mottled clays (BHs 1 to 3) and the made ground in Borehole 4 is a stratum of
medium dense to dense, very silty sand. The sand extends to depths of from 6.00 to 9.00m.
In Borehole 1, the sand is followed by a silty clay in turn followed by compact gravel.
Boreholes 2,3 and 4 show an organic silt (firm) underlying the sand. A stratum of peat was noted in
Borehole 3. The silts are followed by stiff clays or compact gravels. Boreholes were terminated at
depths varying from 10.00 to 18.00m.
Groundwater was noted at a depth of 1.50 metres and water was present in the boreholes in the non-
cohesive soils. Final ground water level in the boreholes is close to surface (0.50m)

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 Figure 4- 5, Bore hole locations

4.4 Hydrology and Hydrogeology

The EPA mapping [ CITATION EPA21 \l 2057 ] for the site denotes the formation beneath the surface as
a locally important a locally important aquifer. The aquifer provides water for the local area and as such
would be subject to source zone protection. Given the sands and gravel beneath, the site is also
classified by the EPA [ CITATION EPA21 \l 2057 ] as highly vulnerable to pollution from human activity.
The bedrock beneath the Quaternary Sediments is a poor aquifer and the made ground which is in
place on the site and its surrounds lends itself to having isolated, perched water bodies present. A
review of the historical mapping[ CITATION www21 \l 2057 ] found no wells in close proximity to the
site.

4.5 Landfill sites

As per EPA records [ CITATION EPA21 \l 2057 ], no landfill existing on the site. There is currently a
waste processing facility within 1KM east of the site, with a Louth County Council waste facility 2KM
to the North.

4.6 Potential Contamination

Previous construction at the site, including the importation of fill may have caused ground water
contamination but there is nothing to suggest from its historic use to systemic polluting on the site.
Its current use, a shopping centre, offers limited opportunity for polluting other then improper
waste management while an adjacent vacant site may be susceptible to fly tipping.

4.7 Other Environmental Issues

The site is not within a Special Area of Conservation or other protection area by the National Parks
and Wildlife Service[ CITATION NPW21 \l 2057 ] and EPA[ CITATION EPA21 \l 2057 ]. The closest
areas denoted by either body are 1.5KM away along the river and Dundalk Bay. There is a stream
100m for the site, which borders an access route to the site that is included in the river water body
WFD report 2013-2018. The Castletown River estuary feeding into the Inner Dundalk Bay transition
water body is currently denoted as “Poor” by the EPA[ CITATION EPA21 \l 2057 ]. The Quaternary
layer of Dundalk gravel has been given a overall status of “good” with a “good” status assigned to
the chemical and Quantitive attributes of the gravel. A site visit will have to be completed to identify
the presence of Japanese Knotweed and other invasive species while it would also be advisable to
investigate any pollution in the site area.
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 4.8 Other Environmental Issues
There are no archaeological findings on the site, it is very close to an area registered as 'section 12' a
zone of notification where it is believed that there are monuments. Appendix E contains the
Archaeological maps sourced from [CITATION Dep \l 2057 ], [CITATION Nat \l 2057 ] and [CITATION The
\l 2057 ]

Bibliography

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Dept of Environment, Climate and Communications. (n.d.). Geotechnical Sites. Dept of Environment, Climate and
Communications.

EPA. (2021). https://www.epa.ie/. Retrieved from https://www.epa.ie/: https://www.epa.ie/

Geohive. (2021). Geohive.ie. Retrieved from Geohive.ie: http://map.geohive.ie/mapviewer.html?

webmap=02618d88f76a43728bf6b18b838c3fed

Geological Survey Ireland. (2021). Retrieved from Geological Survey Ireland: www.gsi.ie

Google Earth. (2021). Retrieved from Google Earth: https://earth.google.com/web/@54.00183016,-

6.39895844,12.36322521a,2002.71609892d,35y,0h,0t,0r

Google Maps. (2021). Retrieved from Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/@54.0012697,-

6.4012426,177m/data=!3m1!1e3

National Monuments Service,. (n.d.). Site and Monuments Record (SMR). National Monuments Service.

NPWS. (2021). https://www.npws.ie/. Retrieved from https://www.npws.ie/: https://www.npws.ie/

OPW. (2021). Flood Maps. Retrieved from Flood Info: https://www.floodinfo.ie/map/floodmaps/

OSI. (2021). OSI.ie. Retrieved from OSI.ie: https://osi.ie/products/professional-mapping/historical-mapping/

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (n.d.). National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. The National
Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

Topographic-Map. (2021). Retrieved from Topographic-Map: en-ie.topographic-map.com

Vuaghan. (1991).

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Appendices
Appendix A Site Overview
Aerial View of Site

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Appendix B Historic mapping of site
Historic 6” (1829 -1841) Map

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Historic 25” 1897-1913 Map

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Aerial Map

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Aerial Photograph 1995

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Aerial 2000 Map

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Aerial 2005

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Appendix C Geological and Topographic Maps
Flooding Map showing location of site

viii
Geological Map 1875

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Geological map 1901

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Bedrock Vulnerability

xi
Bedrock Aquifer

xii
Gravel Aquifer

xiii
Bedrock geology 100k
Calcareous red-mica greywacke – Clontail formation

xiv
Quaternary Sediments -local to site

xv
Quaternary Sediments -Wider Dundalk area

xvi
Groundwater Wells and springs

xvii
WFD_ Groundwater Bodies

xviii
Groundwater Recharges

xix
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Groundwater Vulnerability

xxi
Subsoil permeability

xxii
Groundwater Aquifer

xxiii
Teagasc Soils

xxiv
Hydrostatic Rock Units group

xxv
Radon Mapping

xxvi
Boreholes

xxvii
Appendix D Existing Site services
Existing water and sewer networks

Site

xxviii
Existing electricity and gas networks

xxix
Appendix E Archaeological maps
Archaeological points of interest

xxx
Historic Train Stations

xxxi
Historic Mills

xxxii
Historic Foundry

xxxiii
Appendix F Previous Site Investigation
Fyffes Dundalk Site investigation report

xxxiv