Each year the group meets at one of Skanska’s global tunnel projects to share experiences and ideas. This year people from the US, Sweden, Norway and the UK visited the Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture delivering the London Tunnels section of HS2. Their tour included the Victoria Road Crossover Box and the Northolt Tunnel East Drives.
The group discussed the immense scale of the project and the complexities of managing the logistics in a highly urbanised city like London, as well as the challenges of dealing with stakeholders, third parties, and the public.
Skanska said representatives from Sweden, currently engaged in high-speed rail and metro projects, were keen to observe the UK’s approach, while those from the US, who had extensive tunnelling experience, found the scale of the UK project particularly impressive.
Swedish project chief Hans Hogård said the visitors were struck by the planned, calm and efficient production on site.
“It was clear that the works were well planned. What stood out, of course, was the sheer size of the project and that it is located in the middle of a big city. The arrangement around the logistics hub and the working methods to ensure that such a large amount of transport can take place with full control of security checks, the right vehicles, etc was impressive,” he said.
“We are returning to Sweden full of positive energy and new ideas that we want to introduce into our own projects.”
Skanska Norway’s regional director, Trond Valeur, said the group gained a lot from the visit.
“From how you organise a project of this size, all the logistic aspects that need setting up and solving, through to the different tunnel methods used to deliver the project. It was of great value to me and our team of tunnelling experts from Skanska Norway,” he said.
He added: “It is also of great importance that we are all able to share our tunnelling knowledge and passion between our businesses; knowledge relating to projects, tenders, people and methods. It gives us all a very good feeling knowing that we have all this tunnelling competence in Skanska globally and that we can help each other solve the challenges we meet in our daily working lives.”
Gary Almeraris, vice-president of operations in the US, said the tour provided a look at the new technologies and unique methods being used on HS2.
