It is time for introductions. From this month onwards I am taking on the duties of editor at T&TI.
I bring to it the experience of reporting, writing on and photographing civil engineering projects around the world, for some two decades, and of editing an international civil engineering magazine. The giant and exciting schemes I have seen include, of course, many varied tunnels, underground works and excavated chambers.
Tunnels are clearly the answer more and more for road, rail, gas, electricity, water and waste. As well as making difficult crossings and traversing mountains, they are also the only practical way to cope with environmental, social and urban clutter.
I suspect that in the 21st century, as the technology of tunnelling develops to become ever more sophisticated and even more certain, the proportion of tunnelling and underground work in major projects will only increase. It may be notionally more expensive than some other solutions but in the long term it is often the only sensible option.
Interestingly Singapore, which is often out front in using civil engineering technology to cope with urban life, decreed not long ago that no services can be left visible above the surface. All must go below and, as much as possible, the roads and rails themselves.
If I feel confident about reporting schemes worldwide, I also feel the responsibility of guiding a magazine that is at the heart of its discipline, and is clearly part of the special community of engineers that have chosen tunnelling as their speciality.
John King’s Harold Harding Memorial Lecture in June at the Institution of Civil Engineers underlined the place of this publication. His excellent synthesis of trends in the industry over 200 years drew substantially on past articles and papers.
Hopefully we will both maintain those standards and build on the improvements made by my immediate predessors.
