CHAIRS’ CORNER | BTS
CHAIRS’ CORNER Updates from the Chairs of BTS and BTSYM
after, with sausages, pasties, chips and beer, all in liberal quantities. Grateful thanks go to our sponsors. I’m pleased to say that this September’s evening presentation will be combined with the BTSYM and will be chaired by myself and Arabel (Chair, BTSYM). Bookings on the BTS website are now open for the
excellent BTS Design & Construction Course at Warwick University, from 30 June to 4 July. Places are rapidly filling up, so apply early to avoid disappointment. Dates for this year’s Health & Safety course, at the ICE, are 24- 25 Nov. The Committee continues to promote links to
university courses and is assessing the implications of the government concerning decision to review funding for Level 7 apprenticeships. Work is also in place to reinstate a university course offering an MSc in tunnelling. This course was held for many years at Warwick University and was an excellent breeding ground for many of the tunnel engineers now working in our industry. In March this year, several members of the Committee
BTS CHAIR: JOHN CORCORAN The idea of the BTS & BTSYM chairs putting together some words every few months was suggested at a recent review with the editorial board of Tunnels & Tunnelling (T&TI). The brief was pretty fluid, the intent being to provide a quick update to Society members on what the BTS Committee have recently been involved in. When you get appointed as Chair, one of the most
frequent questions is what are your plans? I can relate to a previous Chair who said they wanted to survive! It does require a good deal of time and I’m very grateful to the support that my employer Morgan Sindall are giving me. My aims are to more closely align the BTS with the Young Members BTS (BTSYM). I also want to fully support the BTS Net Zero group, headed up by Richard Sutherden. I want to encourage more applications to join the Committee and obtain more feedback from BTS members on what they want from the Committee. Our evening presentations at the ICE, in London,
remain extremely popular, with in-person attendances regularly above 150. There’s always a buzz in the bar
and the Society attended the Cambourne School of Mines 47th Intercollegiate Mining Games. Despite the wet weather, the event was very successful. The annual Harding Prize Competition award was
made at the March evening meeting. This award recognises outstanding achievement of young tunnel engineers. This year it went to Sidhant Kaul, an engineer at Hochtief-Murphy JV on LPT2 tunnels, for his paper on ‘TBM transition through Kidbrooke Shaft’. Well done also to Chris Prince of Align JV, HS2 C1 Chiltern Tunnels and Colne Valley Viaduct who presented his paper on ‘Water Treatment in Tunnelling drawn from experiences of recycling water whilst constructing the Chiltern’. There were several engineers who wanted to submit papers but could not get client approval. This was a real shame. Early engagement with clients, and support from senior managers, is strongly advised. Nominations were received for the annual James
Clark Medal award. This prestigious award recognises outstanding lifetime contribution to the tunnelling industry. Last year’s worthy winner was Dave Hindle. This year’s winner will be announced at the May meeting. I attended the annual James Clark medal lunch last year. This was a wonderful event at the ICE bringing
April 2025 | 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43
