IVOR THOMAS | INTERVIEW


engineers coming out of university have the necessary practical knowledge to prepare them for the worksite? Of course they don’t – but that is not the universities’ job. Their academic training provides the tool kit that the young engineer can apply to problem solving. The practical application of that tool kit can only be learnt in industry and industry cannot shy away from its responsibility to train engineers in a practical way. “Many engineers entering industry


do so under a training programme, like apprenticeships, which are recognised by the Institution. We at BAM Nuttall provide such a programme: we undertake to provide successful applicants with – what is roughly – a two-year training period on site and a one year training period in design. That mix of practical training between site and design is fundamental to the overall training of an engineer – the Gold Standard. Young engineers wishing to gain chartered status then apply for a review in front of two chartered engineers who ascertain whether that candidate has reached the required practical level of training. “In addition, we also support


apprenticeships and work-based learning. The apprenticeships are aligned to the entry-level professional qualification at EngTech. Onward progression is provided by degree apprenticeships linked to IEng qualification or work-based further learning routes. The graduate training described above is offered to apprentices as well as to graduates at an appropriate stage in individuals’ development. “I am lucky enough to work with some


fantastic young engineers and believe that UK tunnelling has never been in safer hands. But we do need to continue to grow our own engineering ability. If you look at the TBM contractors on Crossrail, only one of the three tunnel managers was a home- grown tunneller; on Tideway though, the home-grown have been in the majority. We need to give our own engineers these career-building opportunities. “We also need to be able to export our


ability. Export requires good leadership and support – we have seen UK tunnellers on the Brisbane Cross River Rail project, for example; they got there on the back of their experience at Crossrail. Consultants are much better than contractors at exporting themselves and selling their skills abroad. “Tunnelling is a global industry. Before


the current wave of Covid, we held a small meal for the engineers on the tunnelling


Above: Whitaker Tunnelling Machine (1922) was used on Nuttall’s Manchester main drainage contract February 2022 | 37


project that I am currently working on. A dozen engineers spoke ten different first languages between us. What a fantastic place to work that made. Imagine that mix of culture and language – what young engineer wouldn’t want to be part of that? All working together to reach that common goal, the end of that tunnel. “Anything that hinders that mixture


of ideas and culture is not good for the tunnelling industry. Of course, we need to look after our own home-grown engineers; but we also need to give them the global view to draw in good ideas and to develop. “The BTS and the British tunnelling


industry punch well above their weight for such a small island – we need to keep ourselves there as a key player. The great news is that a past Chair of the BTS, Damian McGirr, is standing for the Executive Council of the International Tunnelling Association (ITA), with BTS support. It is difficult to imagine a better ambassador for British tunnelling than Damian and we wish him well in his election. “One really positive development I have


seen has been the greater number of women successfully working in tunnelling. Pioneers were Helen Nattrass on the Jubilee Line and Theresa Ashford as a shift manager on CTRL - these colleagues broke new ground in more ways than one. Now we see women as first-rate engineers and leaders: Sally Cox, who led one of the Tideway projects, and Alison Norrish at Arup are two great examples. I take my hat off to them. I look forward also to women working as TBM operators. Why shouldn’t they? “What of the future? In the UK we have


the Lower Thames Crossing in prospect. Who wouldn’t want to have a go at


building a tunnel 16m in diameter. But look further. The UK has committed to become carbon neutral by 2050. It has committed to decarbonise the electricity system by 2035. And many Tier 1 civil engineering contractors aim to reach net-zero by 2030 or earlier. What does that look like? “The view is that there could be a large


increase in power demand between now and 2035, which amounts to an annual requirement rising from 300TWh to 400TWh. Now, we get about half our power from low-carbon sources. A look at the numbers illustrates what a great challenge we engineers have ahead of us in decarbonising power generation. “How are we going to do it? Wind power


requires power storage. Schemes are already in procurement and planning for pumped storage hydro in the Highlands – which needs tunnels. Decarbonising means more nuclear. Somewhere with nuclear we have to deal with long-term storage of nuclear waste – more tunnelling. Greater power requirements lead to a greater need for power transmission – more tunnelling again. And what is more with all this tunnelling, we absolutely must explore innovations to develop methods that reduce and possibly in the longer term eliminate our carbon footprint. The challenges ahead are fantastic – time to roll up our sleeves.”


EDITOR’S NOTE Peter Harris’ talk on historic tunnelling (https://bit.ly/3tN4Pm3) given at the BTS was also published as an article. Written by Ivor Thomas and entitled ‘Building tunnels in the 19th century’ it appeared in the September 2020 issue of Tunnels and Tunnelling International, pp 12-16.


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