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What’s the risk?
02 November, 2017
This month I am stealing a comment hook from the British Tunnelling Society again. At the October meeting, the evening’s lecture was on the management of risk in tunnelling and major infrastructure projects.

Bigger isn’t always bad
18 October, 2017
The global tunnelling industry is worth USD 1.5tr, according to a new report released in August by Timetric. Leading the pack is Europe, with a project pipeline of almost USD 575bn, surpassing Asia-Pacifi c by a mere USD 10bn. The report attributes this economic success for the region to mega-projects for high-speed and metro rail system expansion.

Productivity Problem
12 October, 2017

The Nuclear Solution
06 September, 2017
Balfour Beatty has announced that it is EDF Energy’s preferred bidder for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station tunnelling and marine works package. The four-year contract will involve the construction of three tunnels for a total of 9.5km in length and 7m in diameter. The tunnels will form part of the cooling system required.

History Lessons
29 August, 2017
Historians contend their subject matter’s utility helps us understand ourselves and the societies in which we live. To borrow an idea from civil engineering—we must understand the foundation before we build upon it. Looking beyond the literal interpretations, in the tunnelling industry without history one cannot appreciate the (comparative) ease, comfort and safety of today’s work environment and modern equipment.

Give the devil his due
21 August, 2017
Tunnelling unnerves a lot of people. Whether it’s something about the thought of a large hole being dug beneath the foundations of their property, the disruption of a few years of construction work, or the general idea of infrastructure being driven through a pleasant environment, it worries people. Especially environmental pressure groups.

Magic Numbers
17 July, 2017
It is a completely arbitrary number, pleasing only because it plays into a base 10 counting system, but compound growth of 7% results in a doubling time of 10 years. That’s what the growth of the tunnelling industry currently stands at according to the International Tunnelling Association (ITA), 7% per year which is expected to continue for the near future. Or at least the next five to 10 years.

Everything in moderation
05 July, 2017

National institution
03 July, 2017
In the UK the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has been running a tunnelling exhibition. It follows on the heels of an exhibition for bridges, which was rumoured to have attracted 15,000 visitors. The challenge given to the engineers of the British Tunnelling Society by the institution was to promote the event enough to beat this goal by the time the exhibit closes in November.

All the way up, all the way down
05 May, 2017
More rumblings from California as a SpaceX employee has posted a photo of Elon Musk’s newly acquired TBM to Instagram – before swiftly removing it. Before moving on, a quick glossary: SpaceX is the packleader of several companies that are vying to commercialise and reduce the cost of space travel; Elon Musk is its eccentric South African billionaire owner and Instagram is a social media platform for photographs that boasts 700 million users.

Approaching the age gap
18 April, 2017
Two-thirds of job openings for engineers in Canada are related to retirement replacement, according to a report released by the association Engineers Canada.

Confidence in conferences
17 April, 2017
Parallel technical sessions seem to irritate conference goers, with particularly awkward setups being remembered and discussed for years after the event.

Calling drifter
29 March, 2017
In this issue we have a comment article written by Martin Knights, a past president of the International Tunnelling Association calling on engineers to “value their signature” and think about what they are putting their names to when they sign off on something. It starts on page 18 and is well worth a read.

Who gets to work
25 January, 2017
Voters in the US, particularly rural, uneducated voters, have said their support for president elect Donald Trump comes not from a place of hate, misogyny, homophobia, Islamophobia, racism, nor a disdain of liberal elitism. Their support is for his plan to bring manufacturing back to US soil, to create more jobs through lifting moratoriums on pipelines and natural resource extraction projects, and by building infrastructure—be it roads, wastewater or the notorious wall with Mexico.

Stonehenge sold short?
09 January, 2017
The Stonehenge Tunnel has reared its head once again. New plans have been green-lit by the government and it appears the shorter tunnel option, a 2.9km bore, is the favourite.