Going underground
For those working on projects that are beneath our feet, life is never boring. There are plenty of challenges involved in the fast-paced and frequently high pressure world of tunnelling.
Tunnelling is a complicated business and the stakes can be high. Tunnel construction works are, by their nature, exposed to relatively high risks. At the same time, the engineering involved in ensuring underground space is properly usable and safe is very complex.
Nevertheless, organisations all over the world place increasing value in developing underground space. Tunnel solutions offer significant benefits with respect to infrastructure sustainability, lifecycle costs and environmental impact.
Disruption is limited, with most tunnel projects being conducted largely unseen and unnoticed.
The UK’s Crossrail project will build major new railway connections under central London by the end of the decade, and tunnelling is at the heart of the initiative. Atkins is part of the team responsible for the design of over 20km of twin-bore segmentally lined tunnels through one of the most densely populated areas of the UK, with both the alignment design and building impact assessment providing major challenges in such a highly congested area.
In the Middle East, Atkins is helping to deliver new infrastructure that is vital for the economic growth of the region, having provided detailed tunnelling design for the Dubai Metro project, the first major bored tunnelling project in the Gulf. Our work in Jeddah with the design and build contractor for the King Abdulaziz International Airport will provide a gateway to the region for local and international business.
Making a minimal environmental impact is of key concern to the project team working with Hong Kong metro company, MTRC. Atkins is the multidisciplinary detailed design consultant on the Express Rail Link, West Island Line and Shatin to Central Link – all essential work to deliver one of the largest and most efficient urban metro systems in the world.
According to Paul Groves, Atkins’ head of tunnelling: “For our clients, the ability to deliver tunnel solutions is integral to being able to solve their wider problems. For us, being good at tunnelling has given us access to a wide range of large, prestigious projects, most notably in the transportation, water and utility sectors.”
Attracting the talent
Schemes like the Belfast Sewers Project, a major stormwater management project launched by Northern Ireland Water in 2003, deliver significant social, economic and environmental benefits. But because the work is rarely seen by the public, it doesn’t attract the attention it deserves. Railway schemes, on the other hand, tend to enjoy a rather higher public profile.
With a worldwide boom in urban underground works construction and growing pressure on the infrastructure of cities, demand for tunnelling skills has never been greater, leaving the industry working hard to find new talent and to retain and develop existing staff expertise.
Raising the profile of tunnelling with the public remains a challenge. “There are still some negative views, which is understandable, particularly if tunnels are to be excavated beneath you,” says Paul Groves. “But when we’re able to explain to the public about what we do and they see the extent of the underground realm, constructed with such great sophistication that they are unlikely to notice our work, then they’re amazed.”
Paul adds that: “It also offers a brilliant but challenging career opportunity. Whether creating railway tunnels and stations under densely populated Hong Kong or tunnelling to handle wastewater in Belfast, or generating underground public transport in Dubai to change road use, we’re making a positive contribution to society.”