SILVERTOWN | PROJECT
Greenwich peninsula, not far from the O2 arena (or, ‘Millennium Dome’). The engineering challenges of designing and installing
the pressure ring launch system were detailed in a Harding Prize Competition paper this year, publishing recently in T&T (June 2023). The system in usual for tunnelling in London, and only used on some projects elsewhere. Once successfully proven in the Silvertown shaft,
and lessons learned, the system was then moved to the Greenwich shaft. There, it was redeployed, ready to relaunch the TBM back to where it started, by boring a second, parallel, 10.8m i.d. tunnel under the river. But, before that could happen, there was another
uncommon technique employed in tunnelling in London: the single TBM was U-turned in a tight area in Greenwich, to be moved, realigned and prepared for the return drive. Nitrogen ‘skates’ were used to rotate the
TBM sections in the reception chamber, the first section being turned 180° in only one day. The air cushion system was developed by Herrenknecht and its partners. All that happened earlier this year but the scale of
tunnelling machine and the uncommon support systems engaged for the project offer sights to behold – and not forgotten, as the TBM is well underway toward finishing its second 1.1km-long drive. Beyond the technicalities, the project itself is different
– it is a public-private partnership concession with the client, Transport for London (TfL). The contractor is Riverlinx CJV, a construction joint venture comprising Ferrovial Construction UK, BAM Nuttall, and SK Ecoplant. The full length of Silvertown road tunnel project is 1.4km-long. The tunnel is due in service in 2025.
For a time lapse video of the TBM rotation, go to:
www.linkedin.com/company/herrenknecht-ag/videos
Above & left:
TBM breakthrough after first drive at Silvertown road tunnel
Below:
Turning around a section of the machine for the TBM’s second drive, back under the river to the initial launch point
ALL IMAGES: TFL/RIVERLINX CJV
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