Engineering consultancy EDC has secured a prize at the prestigious 2023 Irish Construction Excellence (ICE) Awards.

The firm was recognised for its commitment to innovation, claiming the win in the 'Engineering Design Innovation -– Element Up To €10M Category' for its work on Dublin City Council's North City Operations Depot (NCOD).

The ICE Awards are premier recognition of performance excellence for the contracting sector in Ireland, providing an opportunity for the industry to showcase and reward best practice across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories.

'Engineering Design Innovation' was a new category in the competition this year, celebrating Engineering Design Innovation for projects completed in the last year. 

For the NCOD, sustainable design was at the forefront of all EDC's decisions, ensuring that not only was the building's design robust, but it was also affordable to run and maintain, simple in its ease of use, comfortable and designed for the lifetime of the user. 

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Richard O'Farrell, Managing Director at EDC explained: "Decisions that our team made throughout the design process focused on the key principles of ensuring whatever we designed improved the performance of the project as a whole and contributed to positive outcomes not only for our client and the surrounding community; but also ensuring, in the long-term, a positive impact on the health of our cities and the environment."

By creating this centralised depot, Dublin City Council released 16 existing depot land sites for more appropriate functions, such as the provision of approximately 750 social housing units, while transforming a dumping ground into an energy-efficient public facility, to ensure future climate and people needs are at the forefront of the design. This project has also contributed to the development of the infrastructure of Ballymun and the surrounding communities.

O’Farrell continued: "At EDC we believe in delivering responsible end-to-end designs from concept through to delivery onsite, that benefit both current and future generations. A key aspect of this approach is our continued investment in a specialised sustainability team that focuses on creating energy-efficient designs and prioritising environmental and lifecycle cost outcomes to ensure the highest possible benefits for clients and the wider community."

Commenting on the ICE Award win, O'Farrell added: "We would like to thank our team and each individual that has participated and shown their commitment to this award-winning project. This achievement would not have been possible without the teamwork, and collaboration with the wider design project team including JNP Architects, Purcell Construction and Tobin Consulting Engineers, which has been key to Dublin City Council's North City Operations Depot's successful completion and delivery."