BTS - Page 4
Stay up to date with the latest bts features from the global tunnelling industryDividends from a shared interest in quality In this, the first part of their paper 'Self certification on the North Downs Tunnel', submitted to the Harding Prize Competition 2001, Esther Casson and Rand Selman (both seconded to Miller Civil Engineering Services from Mott MacDonald) review how self-certification was developed successfully and brought gains during construction of the North Downs tunnel for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link
Debate: Mandatory no-dig technology in urban areas? On Thursday 21st June 01 at the Institution of Civil Engineers, London 1the British Tunnelling Society held it annual debate. The motion proposed was "This house believes that the mandatory use of minimum disruption techniques such as trenchless technology in urban areas like London, will reduce congestion and be of benefit to all".
Shotcreting in London Clay Despite the criticisms the New Austrian Tunnelling Method has received – of the practice, if not the theory – following a series of construction collapses, the benefits of sprayed concrete linings cannot be ignored, assuming risk can be minimised.
Questions from the Floor Jack Knight (Haswell) referred to the speaker's article in Tunnels & Tunnelling and asked if he had made any modifications to his ideas since...
Are tunnels faster by TBM? At the March meeting of the British Tunnelling Society (BTS) Dr Nicholas Barton of Nick Barton & Associates proposed the use of an expanded, orientated value of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) rock mass quality index Q as an aid to planning the construction of tunnels in rock
KCRC West Rail progress At the January 2001 meeting of the British Tunnelling Society Jaya Jesudason, general manager West Rail construction for the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), and Charles Perrier, project director of the Dragages-Zen Pacific contracting joint venture, gave a comprehensive presentation on progress on the West Rail project in Hong Kong.
Relief to a land of no water The massive project to bring water to Manabi province in Ecuador was examined at the British Tunnelling Society's informal discussion held at the ICE in February
Decade's pick of North American progress At the BTS meeting on 16 November, Lee Abramson of US consultant Hatch Mott MacDonald reviewed tunnelling projects in North America over the past 10 years. He concentrated on schemes with unusual or unique characteristics, examining the progress made in underground works
... and from the floor Donald Lamont of HSE asked Rob James whether, in the light of the quoted figures of 40% to 50% trigger times, he was aware that the new Physical...
Storing up information Following the BTS annual general meeting at the Institution of Civil Engineers on 19 October 2000, came a presentation and informal discussion "Harrods, ground engineering, tunnelling and HAVS" by Rob James, head of tunnelling and Philip Ball, ground engineering manager, both of Kvaerner-Cementation.
Rail rules for the Swiss Felix Amberg spoke about the overall concept of the Alp base tunnels. Aspects of planning, design and construction were described. The presentation included a detailed appraisal of the 57km long Gotthard base tunnel.
Hastings Bathing Water Improvement Scheme The paper was presented by Marcus Cato of Southern Water, Colin Eddy, of Miller Civil Engineering, John Corcoran, the tunnel agent for Miller Civil Engineering, and Helen Nattras, the tunnel resident engineer for Charles Haswell & Partners.
Snapshots of Scotland Scotland's tunnels were the theme of a British Tunnelling Society informal dicussion on 13 April with a four part presentation. Chairman was David Donaldson.
JLE and the lessons from Heathrow At the March meeting of the British Tunnelling Association, construction and redesigns of the Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) stations at London Bridge were described Taylor Woodrow's John Wallis and David Sharrocks, and at Waterloo and Westminster by Peter South of AMEC and Steve Parker of Balfour Beatty. Valuable lessons had been learnt from the Heathrow collapse.
Debate: 'This house believes that partnering has not achieved the promised benefits to date' This year's annual debate, held at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London on February 17, was proposed by Bob Ibell, Taylor Woodrow, and seconded by Alan Myers, Rail Link Engineering. Hadyn Davies, Union Railways, opposed the motion, supported, by Mike Attridge, Rail Link Engineering.
Driving the Elbe Tunnel The meeting of the BTS on January 20 took place in London at the Institution of Civil Engineers and was devoted to a paper by Martin Herrenknecht of Herrenknecht International on the Fourth Elbe Road Tunnel in Hamburg.
Singapore - past, present and future Presentations on the large amount of tunnelling work undertaken in Singapore were given by Alan Finch, Mott MacDonald, UK, and Terry Hulme, consultant to the Land Transport Authority, Singapore, at the British Tunnelling Society in November 1999.
Recent advances in jacked box tunnelling On October 21 at the Institution of civil Engineers, Dr Doug Allenby, Edmund Nuttall Ltd, and John Ropkins, John Ropkins Ltd, treated the BTS to a most interesting evening on the subject of a tunnelling technique with a difference.
UK tunnelling projects The September 1999 meeting of the British Tunnelling Society, which took place at Olympia in conjunction with the Tunnel Construction and Piling 99 event, boasted an excellent turn-out. The subject of the informal discussion was current tunnel construction in Kent. There were three papers: the North Downs and Ashford tunnels for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the Ramsgate road tunnel.
Discussion Gerhard Sauer, G Sauer Ltd, asked why none of the stations had been tunnelled. The answer was that cover at the stations was less than 20m and a box excavation was the most economical...
