Welcome to my first issue of Tunnels & Tunnelling International as Editor. Some of you may recognise the name from my long association as a freelance journalist and consultant. I see the appointment as an honour, which I will do my best to justify by service to the industry.
The February issue regularly features lists of contractor and consultant activity. Of course, these two ‘Cs’ cannot survive without the third – Clients or Customers (‘Owners’ in North America). Much is made of the responsibilities of contractors and tunnelling engineers in conferences, informal discussions and, indeed, contracts, especially in the fields of timely work completion, cost control, safety and risk to third parties, yet those of clients receive much less attention. There can be a tendency for clients to try and divest themselves of as many of these as possible by employing operations and maintenence contractors. The mess now being unravelled in the British rail system has shown where this can lead, especially if they cannot complete their work. Delegation does not mean transfer of responsibility. Similarly, clients who frequently change their minds about project aims, types of preferred contract, and construction methods, while expecting bidders to pick up most of the bill, do themselves and the industry no long-term good. See Seattle and others.
John Reilly proposes a broad approach to project control, expected to be particularly beneficial for large and complex projects. Such an approach places responsibilites on clients which are equal to if not more onerous than those on contractors and consulting engineers. Yet this should result in an overall economy benefitting, primarily, the client, and society as a whole.
On the brighter side the enlightened approach now adopted by many ‘tunnel owners’ in the US in being willing to pay for technical input from contract bidders, and in discussing common problems with the rest of the industry at conferences, has shown what can be done when we all work together. Also, for example, clients in the Netherlands, with government support, have shown a good way to adopt new and beneficial tunnelling techniques
‘Customer bashing’ is naturally best avoided, but customers are not inevitably right. They need to get more involved with the broad underground construction industry to learn and appreciate better ways of completing their projects.
