ITA Tunnelling and Underground Space Awards kick off tomorrow

Organised by the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, the event showcases the most ambitious underground projects around the world as well as the latest tunnelling innovations, techniques, and methods.

The competition features eight categories, including Product/Equipment Innovation of the Year, which has returned for 2022.

The event begins at 13:00 (GMT) on December 6. To register to attend, click here.

All the finalists’ presentations, the panel discussion and digital exhibition will be available on the platform until January 9.

This year’s finalists are:

Major Project of the Year (over €500m)

• Tamoios Highway – Construction of the largest road tunnel in Brazil (Brazil)
• CVB Tideway East (UK)
• Purple Line Extension, Section 1 (US)

Project of the Year (between €50m and €500m)

• Subsea rock tunnels (Faroe Islands)
• Xiamen Metro Island-Xiang’an Cross-sea Tunnel (China)
• World’s first spiral excavation using H&V Shield Tunneling Method (Japan)
• Tiantaishan Tunnel Project of Baoji- Pingkan Highway (China)

Project of the Year including Renovation (up to €50m)

• Circle Line 6 Contract 885 – Construction of Prince Edward Road Station and Tunnels (Singapore)
• Underground tunnel project passing through Taiyuan Railway Station (China)
• Guanyinyan Tunnel: An urban tunnel project of the unequal span four-arch tunnel with two-way and ten-lane (China)
• Huanping Road Project (China)

Technical Innovation of the Year

• Technology for shallow three-lane extra-large-section rectangular pipe-jacking tunnel (China)
• Unprecedented in-tunnel diameter conversion of the largest hard rock TBM in the US (US)
• Semi-continuous advance for single shield TBMs using centre of thrust technology (UK)
• Shield tunnel of super-large section embedded in soft-hard stratum at high earthquake-intensity area (China)

Beyond Engineering

• Multi-pipe jacking method for the construction of the city-core Metro Station in soft soil stratum (China)
• Urban long span tunnel construction hazard mitigation technology and application (China)

Product/Equipment Innovation of the Year

• Non-circular tunnel boring in hard rock (Mexico)
• Integration of robotics into the construction works of the Chuquicamata Underground Mining Site (Chile)
• Equipping the TBM with ‘ears’ — Real-time tunnel geological prediction system for the TBM based on rock-boring seismic source (China)

Innovative Underground Space Use

• Innovative application of low-carbon and energy-saving technology to Erlangshan Tunnel on Sichuan-Tibet Expressway – A power-generating and self-breathing tunnel (China)
• Underground transportation complex in the Optics Valley Plaza (China)
• V-column space of Shenzhen Huangmugang Transportation Hub (China)

Young Tunneller of the Year

• Cláudio Cabral Dias (Portugal)
• Erica Frederickson (US)
• Feng Huanhuan (China)
• Han Chen (China)
• Lorenzo Peila (Italy)
• Rob Margariti Smith (UK)
• Sylvia De Vuyst (Norway)