Blogs Archive

Notes from underground
07 June 2021 Persuading lay people and decision makers of the potentially life-improving benefits of subsurface developments can be an uphill task. The popular imagination has been conditioned since childhood to think of the underground in terms of being dark, dirty, unwelcoming and potentially menacing, not a place to linger in for long. This is reinforced by the influence of popular fiction and Hollywood movies such as ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’, and the fearful associations many of us may have with burial and entombment. So, how can the ill-informed and the sceptical be persuaded that subsurface developments can be attractive, adaptable, safe, sustainable and resilient, not only promising new urban typologies but also new ways of living?

Here we go again?
20 May 2021 First, there was Elon Musk who claimed to be able to increase the speed of TBM tunnelling by ten.

A tool of conservation
05 April 2021 Some of you may raise an eyebrow or two at the article on p29 of this month’s issue of T&TI seeing it is an extract from an arts magazine. But I make no apologies for its inclusion in this distinguished tunnelling journal.

Here’s to another 50 years
23 March 2021 In my current capacity as chairman of the Tunnels and Tunnelling Editorial Advisory Board (EAB), I was pleased to be asked by the Editor George Demetri to write this comment on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the British Tunnelling Society (BTS).

Making progress
15 March 2021 There are now around 9.5m fewer jobs in the US than before the pandemic. President Biden is planning to rebuild American infrastructure at a time of profound national crisis when he could have been forgiven for concentrating on a stimulus package which prioritised unemployment, coronavirus vaccines, childcare and other pressing social issues.

And the winner is…
29 January 2021 It was a great honour and privilege to be asked by the ITA to represent T&T on the judging panel of the ITA Tunnelling and Underground Space Awards 2020. Like many events these days, they were held virtually with the online judging completed in November and the awards presented on December 4.

Can Joe lift infrastructure?
28 January 2021 ‘Crumbling infrastructure’ is a term that is heard frequently in the US, particularly to describe transportation and public utilities. Perhaps ‘infrastructure crisis’ is a better term. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the US will need to spend US$4.5tr on infrastructure by 2025 to avert ‘serious economic consequences’.

Light at the end of the...
16 December 2020 As 2020 draws to a close, I am seeing increasing daily use of that dreadful ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ cliché which many of us in the tunnel press avoid using like the plague. It is being used not to mark the end of a long, hard year, which of course it has been for many of us, but to express hope that multiple vaccines for covid-19 appear to be a distinct possibility.

A great big beautiful book
19 November 2020 New publications are awaited with interest and expectation – at least they should be. We like to hear of new stories, ideas and interpretations. That is why the publication of a book in 2021 which celebrates 50 years of the British Tunnelling Society (BTS) should create more than just a stir in the industry.

Industry needs a WTC2021
23 October 2020 So, another World Tunnel Congress (WTC) has come to what can only be termed a fairly successful conclusion given the unprecedented Covid-19 malaise under which it was held and so rapidly put together.

Achieving science fiction
21 September 2020 There seems no halting the progress of technology and its innumerable benefits. A really inspiring announcement from the British government states that by Spring 2021, automated lane-keeping systems could be legal on UK roads for low-speed driving.

Decoupling from China
21 September 2020 US-China relations are going through a tough time as the so-called ‘decoupling’ process enters a new phase, accompanied by the usual war of words. Rather than a straightforward trade war, we seem to be witnessing a tectonic geopolitical shift that will affect us all.

Supply malaise continues
26 August 2020 It has been said that many of the jobs we will need in 20 years’ time have not yet been invented. But you can bet your bottom dollar that we will still need engineers in 20, 40, even 200 years’ time. In fact, increasingly complex technological societies – e.g. ones where the exploitation of underground space continues to expand – will probably need even more engineers than they do today.

Migrating to online
20 July 2020 I heard a rumour on the grapevine recently (which thankfully proved false) that a highly-respected school of tunnelling was to withdraw its MSc programme.

Tunnelling Resilience
11 June 2020 The question now on almost everyone’s lips is how are our professional activities going to change after the easing of lockdowns,

All good things
11 May 2020

Looking Ahead
21 April 2020

New year resolutions
04 March 2020 You’re supposed to floss your teeth, quit smoking, eat more vegetables, get 30 minutes of exercise each day, cut down on anything worth eating or drinking, and the list goes on. And whether or not you actually do that, or try to, the doctor or dentist is told one’s very best efforts are being applied, mostly.

Queensbury renovation has popular support
20 February 2020 The good people of West Yorkshire have rallied against the closure of the 1.4-mile (2.3km) Queensbury Tunnel, with 6,000 signing a petition in support. While this does not amount to a pardon for the abandoned 140-year-old structure, hopefully the Department for Transport (DfT) will take notice.

Left foot forward
20 January 2020 After a tumultuous and tiring few years for the British electorate, a towering majority for the Conservative Party makes it very likely that Britain will leave the European Union in short order.