Thomas A. Talbott (Tommy), a former director of Miller Tunnelling and Morgan Est Tunnelling (now Morgan Sindall Tunnelling), died on 12 June after a short illness. Tommy was 78, and in a career spanning nearly six decades working for the same tunneling contractor, he had a guiding hand in many of the developments in best practice throughout UK tunnelling.
Tommy began his career in the early 1950s as an articled pupil to Sir James Miller and Partners working from its Hayes office in London. He was soon on site in Nottingham working on the Clifton Bridge spanning the River Trent. This was the first major pre-stressed in-situ concrete bridge to be constructed in the UK. Thereafter he was enlisted in the Royal Engineers, ‘the Sappers’ to complete his term of National Service, during which period he served as a 1st Lieutenant.
Upon demob in 1960 he returned to the Miller Group fold in what was then Miller Brothers and Buckley. He soon became involved in tunnelling projects, mostly small diameter tunnels and pipejacks and he was instrumental in pushing forward pipejacking systems, which were rapidly developing at that time. He often talked of his work at Sidcup—a typical tunnelling project of the 1960s comprising several miles of small diameter hand driven tunnels in compressed air accessed via vertical air locks, a technique long since surpassed by TBM tunnelling and unknown to younger, present-day tunnellers.
In the mid 1970s British tunnelling was beset by difficult industrial relations between the tunnelling contractors and the trades unions, which culminated in a prolonged strike in 1976. A joint committee of contractors and trade unions was formed to resolve the difficult issues before them. Tommy played a major part in this, soon gaining the respect of the trade union negotiators and as was his way, he maintained a strong friendship with them thereafter.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the old ways, such as compressed air tunnelling, had been left behind and modern TBM tunnelling methodology was ascendant. Tommy worked hard to ensure that his company was at the forefront of new construction techniques to have a competitive edge, which made Miller Tunnelling, subsequently, Morgan Sindall, one of the foremost tunnelling firms in the UK.
Among the projects that fell under his guiding hand, to name but a few, are London Water Ring Main, CTRL, Heathrow T5 tunnels and Kings Cross Underground Redevelopment. He also brought his knowledge and experience in supporting the development by Miller Tunnelling of the successful CombiShell sprayed concrete lining process.
Tommy was known by all who knew him as a gentleman. Always smiling, he never raised his voice, nor had a cross word for colleagues or competitors. His leadership was inspirational, especially for young engineers in his charge, many of which have become leaders in the UK tunnelling community. He loved to tell a story and, as an Englishman with a passion for cricket, he would tell anyone (over and over again) how he was trained by Trevor Bailey, the Essex and England all rounder, even though it was several decades ago!
He also had a passion for music and with his wife and friends he made many trips to Vienna and Innsbruck to attend summer concerts, perhaps pausing along the way to gather the latest developments in NATM from his colleagues at Beton and Monierbau with whom Millers joint ventured on the Heathrow Baggage Terminal leading to an enduring successful partnership.
Tommy was a life-long supporter of the British Tunnelling Society, a committee member through the 1980s and vice-chairman in 1987; he was awarded the Society’s James Clark Medal in 2007 for a lifetime of service to British Tunnelling.
Tommy is survived by his wife and two daughters and their four grandchildren. There has been much comment by the leaders of the tunnelling industry in recent days about his life, his stories and his achievements. These can be summed up in one such short comment. ‘One way or another, he touched us all’.
Talbott left a lasting impression on the industry and all who knew him
