BTS & BTSYM CONFERENCES | PREVIEW


BTSYM CONFERENCE This year’s BTSYM Conference takes place on 23 October, in London, and is kindly hosted by Arup at its Charlotte Street office. Speakers at the event are drawn entirely from tunnelling professionals aged 35 and under. The theme for this year is ‘Enabling Innovators in Tunnelling’. BTSYM Chair, Asil Zaidi, says the call for abstracts remains open, and contact can be made through btsym@britishtunnelling.com.


Programme and Sponsors Why ‘Enabling Innovators in Tunnelling’? This is to help focus on ways to get ideas adopted on projects. “The theme is therefore deliberately about the enabling conditions rather than the innovation itself,” he says. The BTSYM Conference runs for a full day and


is built around four sessions, each providing three speaker opportunities with a Q&A afterwards. An interactive workshop will follow lunch. Past successes support each new edition of the


BTSYM Conference, giving the annual event a solid pedigree and yet fresh approach each time. Event sponsors are: Arup (Platinum); Cowi (Gold); Atkins (Gold); DSP (Silver); and, Sika (Silver). The 2025 event, also held at Arup’s London


office, had a theme of ‘Next Generation Tunnelling: Innovation, Inclusion, Impact’. Presenters came from Italy, Belgium, France and Spain, as well as from across the UK. Session 1 had the focus ‘Designing the Future


Underground: Integrated, Automated, Sustainable’ and heard about: cavern development in Hong Kong; Python workflows; Porto Metro expansion; Sizewell C, and steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC). Session 2 looked at ‘Collaboration, Communication


and Design Challenges’ with presentations on aspects of the TELT project, Bromford Tunnel East Portal, and steel segments around openings in a large-diameter TBM tunnel. Session 3 was on ‘Smarter, Safer and Greener


Methods’, which heard about Kidbrooke Shaft, thermal modelling of complex concrete pours, next- generation pipejacking, horizontal directional drilling (HDD), and bentonite slurry rheology for TBMs. Session 4 addressed ’Risk and Movement across


the Tunnel Lifecycle’, considering limiting settlement near residential structures, InSAR monitoring and emerging L-band capabilities, long-term stability in creep-prone soils, and trackbed renewal at Pembroke Tunnel. The 2025 event also heard the Keynote from


Reihaneh Hafizi, Associate Director in Arup’s Transport Group, on whole-life carbon in tunnelling and which included a workshop on the skills graduates will need in future — a shortened version of a session first delivered at the World Tunnel Congress (WTC) 2025 in Stockholm. The BTSYM Conference 2026 will be just as impactful.


Conferences and more The annual conference is major feature of the calendar but sits on top of a substantial year-round programme of learning and engagement for the BTSYM, including many technical lectures, hands-on workshops and also outreach to schools and universities – plus liaison with international peers in other YM groups of national tunnelling societies to run joint webinars. And, of course, social events. For example, the 2025 BTSYM delivered 28 events and


this year has already delivered 10 events, including: ● a lecture on human-centred digitalisation in tunnelling, addressing why digital twins and AI deliver less than promised when data flows are fragmented, supported by Herrenknecht (November 2025);


● a site visit to National Grid’s Gravesend shaft, where members saw a 15m-diameter Vertical Shaft Sinking Machine at work on the Grain to Tilbury 2.2km-long cable tunnel project at the Thames, supported by the Ferrovial BEMO JV (March 2026);


● a technical workshop on the design of timber headings covering load cases, Eurocode compliance and complex connections, supported by OTB Engineering (March 2026); and,


● an International Women’s Day event built around a ‘Living Collage’ of stories from women across UK tunnelling, supported by Ramboll (March 2026).


Internationally, the BTSYM contributed three speakers


to the ITA-AITES 24-hour World Tunnelling Day event; had a paper on equity, diversity and inclusion accepted for WTC 2026 in Montreal; holds an elected seat on the ITAym Steering Board; participates in ITA-AITES’s Working Groups 3, 14 and 23. BTSYM is open to tunnelling professionals under 35


across the UK, and the Committee has around 26 people across six sub-groups: Professional Development; Media and Socials; Schools and Universities; Diversity and Inclusion; Innovation and Sustainability; and, Industry and Partnerships. There are dedicated representatives for the North, Midlands and South.


For booking tickets, exhibition and sponsor opportunities, go to: BTS Conference www.britishtunnelling.com https://btsconference.com


BTSYM Conference www.britishtunnelling.com btsym@britishtunnelling.com


Also, book ahead for the highly regarded BTS Health & Safety course, on 23-24 Nov 2026.


September 2026 | 15


BTSYM Conference 2026 is on 23 October


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