Ayesa head of ground engineering and tunnelling Cláudio Cabral Dias warns that while subsurface 3D mapping is increasingly vital for successful projects, changing how industry works requires companies to plan for retraining their people.
Spanish firm Ayesa worked on the ramps and shafts for the successful Silvertown tunnel project in London in the UK and is now delivering Porto Metro in Portugal. That project will see four lines added to the network, alleviating congestion hotspots and connecting previously unconnected parts of the city.
Both projects featured complicated ground conditions. London is naturally associated with London Clay, but the Silvertown site involved several types of geology, along with three different aquifers, local docks infrastructure and extensive groundwater flood risk. Porto Metro faces a mix of granite, pockets of water-logged clay and centuries-old foundations for buildings within the city.
Gavin Pearson
