Boasting a total budget of GBP 15.9bn (USD 24.6) and 42km of new tunnels, it’s no surprise the tunnelling industry in the UK is waiting with baited breath for Crossrail. It’s regarded as a major lifeline for the UK tunnelling industry, even sparking conversations about skilled worker shortages, though it’s uncertain exactly how much of and how fast the massive rail expansion will move forward. In the meantime, other major schemes are still in contemplation or under review, such as High Speed 2 (HS2) and Thames Water’s Thames Tunnel. While the recession has tightened client’s budgets, and government spending is under review, there is still work to be found in the UK.
The Crossrail project intends to expand rail services through and under London to Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, and Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. In addition to 21km of twin bore tunnels, eight new central London stations will be built and 28 existing stations will see upgrades. There is an enormous number of design engineers employed on Crossrail at this point, but very few contractors, says Helen Nattrass of the BTS’ Parliamentary Lobby Group. And those contractors that are employed are working on demolition and diversion of cables and pipes, not tunnelling.
Work has started in areas like the new ticket hall at Farringdon Station. Contracts have gone also out for station work including one for GBP 500M (USD 770M) for the redevelopment of Tottenham Court Road Tube station, and another worth GBP 700M (USD 1.08bn) for Victoria station— both to a joint venture of Taylor Woodrow Construction and BAM Nuttall Limited. A third contract worth GBP 130M (USD 200M) for Bond Street Tube station was awarded in early August to Costain Laing O’Rourke joint venture. Transport for London says the overall cost of Bond Street station’s redevelopment will cost GBP 300M (USD 462M) when the project is completed in 2017.
Potential austerity measures would create another hurdle for Crossrail, not to mention the tunnelling industry at large. The coalition government, elected in May, has prioritised deficit reduction as its most urgent issue, and public sector spending is under scrutiny leading up to the 20 October publication of the Comprehensive Spending Review. This report outlines spending plans in the UK for the years 2011-12 to 2014-15.
Bob Ibell, chairman of the British Tunnelling Society, accepts the possibility that cuts in public spending could hit the industry resulting in projects not going ahead. “It would however be an absolute body blow to the UK tunnelling industry if Crossrail didn’t happen,” he says.
“Austerity measures undoubtedly will hit us. They will have an impact on wages and they may have an impact on employment in our industry.” But he’s cautiously optimistic that Crossrail will avoid the chopping block, because of the money already spent and because the project has achieved a lot of momentum. “I am sure however there will be some difficult decisions to be made there on scope, because the extent to which you can change the cost of doing the work once you’ve completed your design and started on site is very limited.”
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By GlobalDataBut prior to the coalition government’s budgetary plans, and even their entrance into office, the industry had been quite tight. The amount of work being released has been significantly reduced from two years ago because of the recession, says Dickie Dexter, tunnelling director of Joseph Gallagher Limited. “I would expect to see more of the same, that private utility companies will tighten their budgets and will also make their budgets work a lot harder. It wouldn’t be unusual three or four years ago, to see three or four people on a tender list whereas now you can easily see seven or eight.”
For now, he says, most of the work is coming through water authorities doing pipe jacking and shafting. “The major schemes are great when they come along, but it’s still a utilities business,” he explains. “It’s always going to be utilities because they’re the largest long-term budget.”
Work has kicked off on Southern Water’s GBP 300M (USD 466M) environmental improvement scheme, which, among other improvements, includes building 11km of new sewer tunnels. These will transfer wastewater from Peacehaven, Telscombe, Saltdean, Rottingdean, Woodingdean, Brighton and Hove, to a new wastewater treatment works and outfall located at Peacehaven. The 4Delivery consortium comprising United Utilities, Costain and MWH is working with Southern Water to mine the tunnels and construct the treatment works at Peacehaven. Two TBMs with 2.44m internal diameters have been hired from Magnor Plant, the in-house plant hire company of Morgan Sindall, and were delivered in June. Tunnelling is underway with advance rate of 40m a day, and Southern Water hopes to increase that 60m for completion in February 2011.
Thames Water says it will start tunneling on the 4 mile (6.4km) Lee Tunnel in late 2011. Part of the London Tideway scheme of improvements to stop sewer overflows and improve the River Thames, the Lee Tunnel will transfer sewage from Abbey Mills Pumping Station to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works. This should prevent more than 16 million tonnes of sewage mixed with rainwater from overflowing into the River Lee, a tributary of the Thames. A GBP 400M (USD 621M) contract to construct the tunnel was award in December 2009 to a joint venture of Morgan EST, Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche (MVB). The tunnel, which will be 7m in diameter and as deep as 75m in some places, is scheduled for completion in 2014. To date, construction on the tunnel has only involved enabling works and site establishment. MVB is currently coring 80 holes around the circumference of the drive shaft to ensure no unexpected obstructions are encountered when construction of the diaphragm wall starts in September. Construction will start on the drive shaft and two other shafts this year.
It’s the first of two planned tunnels to start construction. The proposed 20 mile (32km) Thames Tunnel would run west to east across London to Beckton preventing discharges from 34 Victorian overflow points along the Thames. Its precise route is yet to be determined, and a period of public consultation will start in September to include a review of the route and construction sites. Thames Water hopes to submit the planning application for the Thames Tunnel in 2012, and has provisionally scheduled construction to start in 2013 to finish in 2020.
The now uncertain timelines of Thames Tunnel and Crossrail will determine the future of the UK tunnelling industry, and whether skill shortages do exist. The further Crossrail progresses, there will be more demand for the industry, and the more likely that foreign labour will be required. If work for the Thames Tunnel runs concurrently with Crossrail, which is standing firm on its expectation that passenger services will be running by 2017, there will be a higher proportion of foreign engineering staff and workforce employed in the UK, explains Nattrass. “When Crossrail begins it should take up just about the whole of the UK tunnel workforce.” Or she says, the Tideway project might start toward the end of Crossrail and there will be carryon for the tunnelling sector. It’s just too early to tell.
Ibell says the skills shortage isn’t as pressing a problem as originally perceived. This is partly because there are fewer projects, and starts have been staggered, but also because the industry is aware of the problem and has taken action. “I’ll be honest, I was one of the first to say ‘we have a problem’ and we did. But it was a good wake-up call to plan how we could train and develop new entrants into the industry.”
Looking toward the long-term future, the next big project may be a high speed rail connection between London and the West Midlands. The government created HS2 Limited in January 2009 to develop the programme, and a recommended route was published in a report this past March. Following May’s election, the new government has asked, HS2 to carry out further work on a Heathrow connection, to consider different ways of connecting the West Midlands, Manchester and Leeds and to plan a public consultation for early 2011.
Coring works start on the 6.4km Lee Tunnel for Thames Water
