ROD YOUNG: BTS CHAIR | INTERVIEW


get back onto a larger project, and Barhale are tendering for some. “We are doing works on Thames


Tideway: all the big sewers need the smaller-diameter outflows to join onto them, and we are involved in that. And, on any big project there is the relocation of all the services and utilities that are in their way; we are doing a lot of the utility diversions for HS2. It is always interesting to be involved different things. “And that is a theme I want to carry


through to the BTS. I’ve been involved in the Society now for 12 odd years.” Young says the BTS is there to develop


the tunnelling industry, taking several forms. The Society encourages people to join the industry, through interaction with schools and colleges, and through the BTS Young Members. It also work on the development of new standards and guidance, keeping them updated. As new developments occur within the industry, it looks to developing new qualifications and standards and imparting these changes to the industry. There is much effort to impart knowledge to current and new members of the industry through courses, technical evenings, and conferences. “I became involved in the courses


Subcommittee on joining the BTS Committee,” he says, “and then in my second year on the Committee I became the Subcommittee Chair.” He ran two of the BTS’s key courses –


‘Underground Health & Safety’, a two-day course at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and held each year in November (apart from the Covid pandemic shutdown period); and, the 5-day residential ‘Underground Design and Construction’ (D&C) course, at the University of Warwick, in July each year (again, halted by the pandemic). Why those two courses? “They were the two courses that the


BTS had already been running for quite a few years past. They weren’t something I developed and started, they were up and running already. I just took over the organising of it. For the D&C course, he says, there were


about 30 or 40 people attending, “but after some years we got it up at its peak to nearly 90. “We invite experts from the industry


to come along over the five days, to talk for an hour or so on a variety of subjects: it can be pipe jacking, tunnelling, timber headings, drill and blast, temporary works,


various types of design, segments, sprayed concrete lining , project management... It is a technical overview for young engineers just starting out and more senior people joining the industry. The delegates have attended from all over the world not just the UK, such as from Norway, India, Spain, etc.” Warwick was also the host-university


for the BTS-backed MSc in Tunnelling – also impacted by covid shutdowns. The D&C course had been held at several locations in the early years but moved to Warwick when the BTS worked with the university to develop and run the MSc course to be based there. In mid-2022, Young became Chair of the


BTS. “I am enjoying my time very much,


being already a year through my two-year tenure.” Key events have included presenting the


David Wallis Lecture at the BTS conference, in October 2022, speaking at the BTS dinners, opening the courses but this time as Chair. “My predecessor, Kate Cooksey, was the


one who was mainly involved in setting up the Warwick MSC course; and, she was also the one who saw the BTS through the Covid pandemic. Of course that involved setting up Zoom and YouTube meetings because people could no longer meet face to face at the ICE on the third Thursdays of the month as we used to. “The virtual meetings were very


successful; people got used to having lectures and conferences that way, and we had some very large attendances, which have been maintained. But Covid has left its legacies: people have become accustomed to meeting that way. And that has impacted the social side of the Society, which has always been very important: the ‘Meeting people and talking shop over the Famous Sausage and Chips’ side of things, where you meet people and talk shop and swap experiences and help solve each other’s problems face to face.


SO THAT IS MY HOPE FOR


THE BTS. ITS GREAT STRENGTH IS THAT ANYONE CAN JOIN IT, WHATEVER YOUR LEVEL OR INVOLVEMENT IN TUNNELLING ALL OF THOSE CAN BE INVOLVED


It helped that, in the past, most of the


big projects were London-oriented; people lived or worked near London and it was easy to get to the lectures at the ICE. “But now that’s not so easy; the projects


have moved, and so many of those people have moved out of London also. Even so, we are still attracting good audiences – we have had nearly 200 people at recent meetings. “It is not a problem that is unique to the


BTS: many other professional bodies have seen membership, and attendances, fall off since Covid. “Our membership figures have actually


held up very well, and the YouTube lectures are available online so can be downloaded at any time, and again the numbers who click on them and watch them at some time that is convenient to them, say after supper at home with their feet up, are quite large. “But I do want to get the in-person


social side working for as many people as possible. “One way is to have meetings all around


the UK. We have had a few in the past. Now it is something that I would very much like to focus on. The idea is to go out and have meetings out of London and to do it in conjunction with other organisations.” He mentioned the PJA and UKSTT.


Recently, the BTS held its annual Joint Meeting with MinSouth, which is the south of England group of the mining community. It is looking at working with the Concrete Society – “there is lots of shared interest there.” Also, he adds, “We are looking at working


with the Mining Institute up at Newcastle to have a meeting there. We have already had a couple of meetings with the York Railway Museum. There’s a twofold reason for that: railways and tunnels obviously go together, and we are working with them on their revamp. The Museum is also a perfect venue for lectures as well. The plan is to go there for some meetings in the near future. “So that is my hope for the BTS. Its


great strength is that anyone can join it, whatever your level or involvement in tunnelling. That in turn means that mining people, concreting people, railway people, pipe-jack people, drilling people – all of those can be involved. And we still do have the sausage and


chips at our Thursday meetings. Please come and sample them.”


April 2023 | 29


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