Richard (Ricardo) Lovat, founder and chairman of Canadian TBM manufacturer, Lovat, received an honourary engineering degree from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in November 2002. The award was given in recognition of his commitment and outstanding contribution to the tunnelling industry.
The degree was presented to Lovat by Dr Sebastiano Pelizza, co-chairman of the Politecnico di Torino’s scientific committee, and former president of the ITA.
The presentation took place at the ACUUS (Associated research Centres for the Urban Underground Space) 2002, where Lovat also lectured.
Lovat developed his first TBM shortly after setting up his first company, Richard’s Machinery and Repair Ltd. The machine was used on a sewer project in Welland, Ontario, Canada.
Lovat Inc was formed in 1972, with the construction of Lovat’s fifteenth machine. Since then, over 200 machines have been designed and built, completing more than 380 tunnelling projects on six continents, excavating more than 1,000km of tunnel in 25 countries.
