ITA selects our Hong Kong metro project as the “Tunnelling Project of the Year”

On November 16, 2017, the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) bestowed its “Tunnelling Project of the Year” award to us in the €50-500-million category for contract SCL 1103 as part of the Shatin to Central Link project for the Hong Kong metro system.

The project included high-risks tunnelling works in a 4km tunnel (part of a 17km strategic railway line), underneath Hong Kong’s highly built-up urban areas, in close proximity to residents. In a complex geological situation, different tunnelling methods had to be used such as cut- and-cover and drill-and-blast at only 6m above a live water supply tunnel; TBM crossing twice at 6m below an operating railway line... A particularity to be mentioned is the alternative design which was used for a large-span mined soft ground tunnel to reduce construction and safety risks as well as the redesigning of the ventilation shaft to improve safety”, the ITA jury stated as it awarded the prize.

In September 2016, the Hin Keng to Diamond Hill tunnels were delivered to the client, MTR. Currently, project teams are completing exterior works and interior technical and architectural works in the shafts for final project delivery, which is set for the first part of 2018. MTR plans to launch the initial phase of the Shatin to Central Link in 2019.

At the awards ceremony, our client on the Doha metro project, Qatar Railways, received the “Major Project of the Year” award (for projects valued at more than €500 million) for its work as a whole in that country. Since June 2013, we have been taking part in this vast infrastructure project with operations on the Red Line South: a 13.8-km dual-tunnel link running from the historic district of Msheireb in central Doha to Doha Airport.

In addition, for its “Young Tunneller of the Year” award, ITA selected Tobias Andersson, a TBM manager who started his career as part of our Skanska-VINCI consortium on the Hallandsås Tunnel project in Sweden.

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