INTERVIEW | MIKE MCCONNELL
penstock tunnel it was necessary to put in place a temporary mid-point bulkhead. Barry Couchman was the prime mover to install a steel liner below the bulkhead and traditional concrete lift pours above, which again accelerated the works and enabled watering-up on-programme. All the hydros discussed were a variant
of Design and Construction, resulting in then leading up to the Malaysian Pergau project, which, in remote jungle locations, Mike says was a final test of all staff/ companies’ adaptability to these site conditions and Conditions of Contract. Appreciating the Mechanical and Electrical
requirements at an early stage in the contract was critical here. “With the ‘20 years era of Hydros’ I feel that I have learnt a lot in planning and coordination,” he says, “to make things happen on-site!”
Above: Mike presenting the BTS Book to Tunnelling Superintendent Herb Hart, following the NZTS/BTS joint meeting in Auckland in 2024
HALF OF ENGINEERING IS
WORKING WITH AND DEALING WITH PEOPLE; AND WITHOUT PEOPLE SKILLS AND LEADERSHIP THE PROJECT WON’T WORK.
Next was China, and not hydro. “In liaison
with the late Peter Chapman, we proposed the use of TBMs for the Guangzhou Metro system. As usual, the contract was then split up into a number of local contracts and contractors, who soon developed a ‘DIY’ TBM concept for themselves! But it was an interesting experience.” Then, later, Mike turned his focus to the
next generations. “My last three years before retirement,
Above: Many projects with tunnelling works were undertaken in Asia, including in Sri Lanka “After Oman, we moved back to the
UK and I operated out of Balfour Beatty International’s London Head Office, as their Chief Engineer. This involved supporting hydro plants in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and a metro proposal in China. “In Sri Lanka, on the Anglo-Japanese
Hydro Plant, I was working with Barrie Glenn to ensure that our UK designer was producing buildable construction drawings for the power tunnel and
38 | August 2026
powerhouse. This involved both UK visits and longer periods on-site. Excessive water flows in the power tunnel excavation were only resolved by chartering a helicopter and identifying the surface rock dips and diverting the tunnel alignment to minimise water inflows. “In Malaysia, the hydro plant involved a
75m-high earthfill dam, 35km of tunnels and an underground powerhouse cavern. In constructing the 500m-long inclined
I spent as Graduate Recruitment and Engineering Development Manager. Traditionally, that had involved the so- called ‘milk round’ of companies making the rounds of dozens of universities, holding interviews with students about their academic achievements. My own experiences, back as a young interviewee, made me change that. I realised that it was a waste of space; students, not knowing the company or real-life engineering, could only ask nebulous questions, about company cars and the like; we for our part could get only nebulous ideas about the students. “I got rid of the milk round. We focused instead on specific universities. We
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