On 9 May 2003 the second Tunnelling Industry Awards ceremony took place at the Brewery in London. An event jointly organised by the British Tunnelling Society (BTS) and T&T International, the Tunnelling Industry Awards are to recognise and reward achievement within the UK underground construction industry.
This year’s event, held at the BTS Annual Dinner, was once again a huge success. A large number of entries were received and the judges had a difficult task in selecting winners from the finalists. The judging panel was led by International Tunnelling Association president, André Assis, and included Anthony Umney, chairman of the BTS; Peter South, immediate past chairman of the BTS; Tris Thomas, editor of T&TI; Myles O’Reilly, chairman of the T&TI Editorial Advisory Board; and last year’s BTS Harding Prize winner, Alun Thomas of Mott MacDonald.
Presented by UK TV and radio personality, David Jacobs, the Major Project Award went to the Hochtief/Murphy JV, for CTRL Contract 320 ‘Thames Tunnels’. The US$220M contract, awarded to the Hochtief/Murphy JV in January 2001, comprises twin, 2.5km long, 7.15m i.d. bored tunnels under the River Thames. Breakthrough of the first bore was successfully achieved on the 4th March 2003, using a new technique involving use of glass-fibre bars instead of steel reinforcement for construction of the diaphragm headwalls (T&TI April p24).
The Achievement Through Innovation Award was presented to Edmund Nuttall Ltd for the M1 Box Jack Junction 15A Enhancement. Using patented methods the company utilised a system of hydraulic jacks to push a 14m wide x 45m long concrete box under a live stretch of one of the UK’s busiest motorways.
Winner of the Excellence in Tunnel Design Award was presented to Scott Wilson for Package 01 of the CERN LHC project in Switzerland. A particularly challenging construction schedule prompted the innovative use of tensioned anchors to suspend the cast concrete vault lining of the 35m wide x 56m long UX15 cavern (T&TI, April 2002, p33) prior to bench and invert construction.
Winner of the Minor Project Award was Byzak Ltd for the Acre Road Relief Sewer in Glasgow. Initially local opposition to this 1.6km long, 1.5m dia, pre-cast segment lined tunnel through coal measure rocks, was high. However, careful route selection and TBM procurement combined with close public liaison, resulted in letters of commendation from both the Client Scottish Water and the local community.
The Machinery/Materials Award went to Continental Conveyor Ltd, for advances in tunnel conveying. Continental’s intelligent booster drive system for longer tunnels has been used on numerous major projects, including CTRL’s 220, 240 and 250 contracts.
Winner of the Safety Award was Herrenknecht for the TBM 1200. In response to safety concerns for operators in small open-faced machines, the company has developed the TBM 1200, which combines the practical benefit of an open face TBM with the safety of a remote controlled microtunnelling machine.
