BTS | CHAIRS’ CORNER


together many of the previous medal winners, and


some of the families of those now deceased. I have a personal connection with the late Tommy Talbott, so was delighted to see his daughter Jennifer in attendance. I met regularly with Tommy’s family whilst working on his story for the ‘BTS at 50’ book. The Committee has used Society funds to sponsor


several activities in the past year in line with the Constitution statement to “foster understanding, experience, interest and research of the art and science of tunnelling”. Activities sponsored include: PhD research into causes of Bone Necrosis; a CIRIA report on chalk; and, rewriting of the CIRIA report on the observational method R185. Details of the Society’s accounts can be found in the Annual Report. The Technical and Health & Safety sub-committees


remain actively working on publications including: BTS SCL Best Practice guideline; BTS Monitoring Underground Construction – A best practice Guide; BTS Segmental lining production control guidance. Work is also now starting on the 5-yearly update to BS6164. The Committee continue to be actively involved in the development of CEN standards (European Committee for Standardisation). Work is also about to start on a new initiative, championed by Charles Allen, to offer industry guidance on biogenic corrosion in sewer infrastructures. This is estimated globally to cost the industry billions of pounds. Roger Bridge has taken on the role of lead for the


T&TI Editorial Advisory Board (EAB). This group meets several times a year to review the T&TI magazine with the editors, to ensure content remains relevant and of interest to the Society. It has been noted that the person- profiles are particularly interesting with more to follow including miners, young tunnellers and those who have a lifetime of experience. Many thanks to Martin John from T&TI who has been


a great help with the BTS LinkedIn page which now has over 13,000 followers. The book celebrating 50 years of tunnelling has


been a huge success with great feedback from many happy purchasers. Great credit goes to the book sub- committee, chaired by Ken Spiby, who for six years worked through the challenges to make the book happen. Copies are available via the website. The


Committee is also working with many universities and international tunnelling societies to provide them with a copy of the book. An excellent way to promote tunnelling and foster links to other organisations. The Annual Dinner is again at The Brewery, in London,


on 23 May. This is a slight alteration from our usual first Friday in May date, as the venue had allocated that date to others. The date for 2026 has been booked for 8 May. Our guest speaker is the Rt Rev Richard Coles, of Communards fame and someone with an extremely interesting story. I have started thinking about my speech as well. Tickets are selling extremely fast with 600 reserved already. Please act quickly to avoid disappointment as we are limited on our numbers. The Committee has close links with the International


Tunnelling Association (ITA) and is working towards putting a bid in to hold the 2031 World Tunnelling Conference (WTC) in the UK. Previous bids to do this were unsuccessful but I’m confident the experience learnt will mean we have a very good chance of success this time. I have tried to be brief for this first ‘letter’ to the BTS


Society and I am conscious that I have not mentioned many of the activities the BTS Committee and sub- committees have been involved in. I will, however, recommend you read the BTS Annual Report, due to be published shortly, which contains a lot more information on exactly what each of the sub-committees have been involved with. This is available on the BTS website. I am always open to suggestions on what Society


members want to be informed about. I’ll finish off by encouraging members to get involved, make a difference and apply to join the Committee. The three successful applicants for 2025 will be announced at the May AGM. I look forward to them joining and getting involved. I am extremely grateful for all the hard work Committee members put in, which is all voluntary. I am somewhat in awe of the range of skills Committee members exhibit, and their can-do attitudes. I’m now eight months into my two-year term, and with each passing month I get to enjoy the role more and more. I hope I can say the same after my speech at this year’s Dinner.


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Above: BTS evening meeting at ICE, London 28 | April 2025


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