CLAUDIO CABRAL DIAS | INTERVIEW


“That’s why Design and Build contracts


are my favourites because then you actually are designing it for the contractor and you actually are getting those inputs and feedback about constructability and how they prefer to work, and you actually engage with them discussing what is the best solution in terms of the programme and resources. I think it is more complete that way; you feel you gain so much more from a project if you’ve seen it being put up on the ground. “I was enjoying my time in Brazil but


the market there is quite domestic. After three years I was wanting something more international; and, I got an offer from CH2M (now Jacobs) and came to London. I worked mainly in design, first on the Ipswich Cable Diversion, then on National Grid Tunnels and London Underground’s Tottenham Court Road Station Upgrade. After that I was seconded to Crossrail UK to work on the Fisher Street cavern. That, again, was on-site; and, that helped me to get my chartership, which was very important to me. There is nothing like being on a site day after day rather than just visiting, to give you experience and teach you things.”


Designs for tunnels in Los Angeles and


India followed, and then work on Hinkley Point C project – “I was doing 3D models for the offshore cooling water tunnels and shafts” – and HS2. “I was hired in 2018 by the Spanish


company Typsa, part of a Joint Venture with Arup and Strabag, as Senior Tunnel Engineer for the High Speed 2 project, London. HS2 was then in the early stage of design. There was already a concept and we had to develop it, first with scheme design and then in detail. It was a very interesting job for me because I was working as part of the design house that was working with the contractor – one of the Design and Build contracts I was speaking of. “We were all in the same building,


Victoria House, that is just by the British Museum, a wonderful classical building and discussing the HS2 rail link with the contractor. I was mainly working on ventilation shafts; and it was a very


international environment. London is quite international anyway and I had colleagues from all over the world. From the three companies that make up the Joint Venture there was a mix of Austrians, British and Spanish. “It was a very good experience because,


for instance, the Germans were very focused on the TBM and they would be more practical with less small talk and very different from the Spanish and the British. It was very healthy being able to learn from all these interactions. Culturally it was a really good environment. It was one of the projects that I really enjoyed the most because of that. My six years in London became almost like a dream come true; starting in a small village you end up in a wonderful building designing rail lines with people from all round the world.” Since 2020 he has been with Spanish


company Ayesa, where he is the Head of Ground Engineering & Tunnelling. Projects have included the Silvertown Tunnel in


…EVERY TUNNEL AND EVERY TUNNELLING PROJECT IS DIFFERENT SO THERE ARE REALLY NO RULES THAT YOU CAN APPLY TO ALL OF THEM


September 2024 | 45


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