SHANNON, Ireland, Aug. 30, 2007 -- The 5 Star Dromoland Castle Hotel, located about 6 miles north of the town of Shannon in the west of Ireland, is renowned as a magnificent example of Renaissance architecture having been built in the 16th century and is recognized as one of Irelands premier castle resort hotels. Out of doors, the facility offers a championship golf course, fishing, horse riding, clay shooting, and many more active pursuits and the castle is often used as a base to explore the surrounding area from Bunratty to the Burrren or the Cliffs of Moher, all of which are within easy driving distance.
As well as a full health and leisure centre, complete with swimming pool, there is a spa where guests can indulge in the tranquil surroundings and experience the best Swedish massage, aromatherapy, nail therapy, facials and hair services.
As part of the Hotel's on-going maintenance operations, its drainage system is regularly inspected to ensure it remains fit-for-purpose. During one such inspection it was discovered that a short pipe section of drain running beneath two of the spa facility's massage rooms was deteriorating, with cracking and other defects, and was in urgent need of repair despite having been repaired using patches in some places on earlier occasions. The pipe now needed a full length lining repair. Local contractor, Kerry Enviro Services of Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland was engaged to complete the necessary work.
Kerry Enviro Services was established in 2006 and started with jetting systems. After about 5 months the company decided to enter the pipelining market. The company currently has the capacity to line pipes from 100 mm (4 in) to 300 mm (12 in). At present the company investigating entry into the use of top hat lateral connections.
The company currently operates across the whole of Ireland and is also looking at obtaining work in mainland UK. As a company services offered also include: site surveys, cleaning, lining, pressure testing and grease management.
Having seen the problematic drain at Dromoland Castle, the contractor decided the reapir would be best solved using the Germany-manufactured Brawoliner® system, which is available in the UK and Ireland through Peterborough-based CJ Kelly Associates Ltd, specialist consultants for renovation and rehabilitation installations and project management across the UK and Ireland.
Rapid Response
Kerry Enviro, having inspected the drain in question at Dromoland Castle further decided that a rapid response and installation would give the client the best opportunity to minimize the impact of the renovation works and spa downtime for the Hotel, as well as minimizing the impact of reduced facilities on the Hotel's guests.
To this end, Warren Haighway of Kerry Enviro first approached CJ Kelly on a Monday afternoon, just to see what sort of response time was available in providing the necessary equipment and materials to complete the Brawoliner® installation at the Hotel. The response he got was somewhat unexpected to say the least.
"We were told we could have all the necessary materials along with specialist installation support, in the form of Martyn Kelly, the following morning. You can't get a better response than that," said Warren.
The drain in question was a straight run, clay pipe of just 14 m long, but it was a vital part of the spa drainage system, which could not be kept out of service too long.
True to their word, CJ Kelly's Martyn Kelly arrived at the Kerry Enviro Services depot early on the Tuesday morning after traveling via the overnight ferry from Fishguard in South Wales, with all the necessary lining materials. The crew, along with Martyn immediately set off for the castle.
On arrival at the site, a preliminary pre-lining CCTV survey was undertaken of the drain to be repaired, whilst over-pumping provision was acquired and installed to form a bypass during the liner installation operation. Once the over-pumping facility was in place lining could begin.
Unfortunately, the access to the massage rooms at either end of the damaged drain was very limited via hotel corridors so it was necessary to utilize a water inversion tower within the room with the launch manhole. This led to a further difficulty that of height. The installation would need a water pressure head of some 3 m to ensure the liner inversion was completed successfully and the construction of the tower only just fitted into the room. However, having overcome these problems the liner was inverted successfully.
Access difficulties also meant that the liner could not be hot water cured so the liner had been prepared with an ambient cure resin. This resin required a 12 hour cure time, so once the liner had been inverted, two crew remained on site to oversee the curing process.
The following day the liner was opened at the downstream end to allow the inversion water to drain away, the liner ends were cut to fit and the inversion tower and over-pumping facilities were removed. Job done.
The Brawoliner® system uses a seamless lining textile fabric that is applicable to pipes from 75 to 255 mm diameter, with wrinkle free installation around 90o bends. The system is generally compressed air inverted from an inversion drum and can be used as an ambient or hot water cured installation. The system can also utilize a water inversion scaffold tower should circumstances be appropriate.
The Brawoliner® system is designed to answer some of the more pressing environmental problems with more established lining system resins across Europe, and does this by using environmentally friendly resins and the system is manufactured to ISO9002 standard.
Brawoliner® has also been presented with an award for innovation in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany on the basis that it was specially designed to meet the latest environmental standards.
Satisfied Client
According to Mark Nolan, the General Manager of the Dromoland Castle Hotel: "We were pleased and surprised at how quickly the work was completed, we had not expected such a rapid response. Having seen the result we are very pleased with how the contractor and its suppliers worked and the minimal disruption the work brought to the Hotel."
Warren Haighway said: "We are very please with the way in which CJ Kelly was able to respond to this small but vital project for our client, the Dromoland Hotel, and the support they gave us during the project. This one of the first installations we have completed with Brawoliner® and are extremely pleased at the outcome. We are very likely to utilize this system again in future operations."
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