Case Study: Luas Cross City

Luas Cross City (LCC) is a major urban transport programme delivering critical light rail infrastructure through Dublin’s live city-centre environment. The main infrastructure, civil and track works required archaeology to be delivered in-step with a tightly managed groundworks programme — protecting cultural heritage while minimising disruption to construction sequencing.

Following successful delivery of previous LCC contracts, Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd (Rubicon Archaeology) was appointed to deliver all required archaeological services during the main construction phase of the scheme.

Rubicon agreed clear working and notification methodologies in advance to ensure that minor archaeological discoveries could be quickly investigated and recorded with minimum disruption to the groundworks programme.

Major risk items were identified early, and planned, coordinated measures were developed to deliver mitigation within the construction programme. Key focus areas included:

• The industrial landscape at Broadstone.
• The potential cholera burial ground at Grangegorman Lower during LCC Main Infrastructure works.

Overall coordination of archaeological delivery was managed by a Senior Archaeologist, overseeing Rubicon personnel, liaising with the main contractor’s management team at a senior level, and coordinating dialogue between the contractor and TII’s Project Archaeologists.

Rubicon’s delivery model for LCC was designed to handle both routine and higher-risk archaeology in an urban environment. The programme combined rapid-response investigation for minor finds with planned mitigation for higher-risk areas to protect programme certainty and heritage outcomes.

• Delivered all required archaeological services for the main construction phase of Luas Cross City under live programme constraints.
• Enabled quick investigation and recording of minor discoveries with minimum disruption to groundworks sequencing.
• Reduced programme risk by identifying high-risk areas early and agreeing a planned mitigation strategy within the construction programme.
• Maintained effective governance through senior-led coordination with the main contractor and TII Project Archaeologists.

Luas Cross City demonstrates Rubicon Archaeology’s capability to deliver archaeology in complex, high-interface infrastructure environments. Clients choose Rubicon for: