Super Sewer Joint Ventures all win at tunnelling awards
All three Joint Ventures on the Tideway project were recognised at the New Civil Engineer Tunnelling Awards including wins in the Tunnelling Team and Young Tunneller of the Year categories.
The Main Works Contractors picked up five of the thirteen awards on offer while Ignacio Tognaccini Sainz working on the central section of the ‘super sewer’ was named young Tunneller of the Year.
Ignacio’s win follows Dimple Parmar recently claiming Degree Apprentice of the Year at NCE’s Graduate and Apprentice Award and was one of three for the joint venture (JV) of Ferrovial Construction and Laing O’Rourke which also picked up Tunnelling Team of The Year and Health, Safety & Wellbeing Initiative of the Year for how they have managed their workforce throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
The JV of Bam Nuttall, Morgan Sindall, Balfour Beatty, along with Shutterstrip, on the western section of the project, claimed the Innovation in Tunnel Construction award for a method of connecting concrete sections involving applying a soluble film which is in use for the first time.
And on the eastern section, the JV of Costain, Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche won the award for Project Legacy for their work with The London Design and Engineering University Technical College.
Tideway Programme Director, Andy Alder, said: “These awards are recognition for a fantastic team across the project and the importance of getting our culture right that enables excellent performance. We’re also particularly pleased with awards for Health, Safety and Wellbeing, and sustainability, and awards showing the great young people we have in the team.”
Viv Jones, Project Director for Tideway’s central section JV of Ferrovial Construction and Laing O’Rourke, said: “The team has impressed every step of the way on this project. They’ve delivered against formidable engineering challenges and difficult environments with their tenacity, resourcefulness, and passion. Our joint experience has allowed us to deliver part of an infrastructure asset that will serve London for generations. We’re very proud of the talent our project is fostering and what we’ve achieved on Tideway so far and these industry recognitions affirm that.”
Ignacio Tognaccini Sainz, Tunnel Agent on the central section main tunnel secondary lining operation, said: “It’s an honour to have won this award. The magnitude and complexity of the Tideway project has made working on it a great learning experience and a memorable job. There’s a lot of work left to do and I hope I can encourage aspiring tunnellers the same way my managers and colleagues have encouraged me”.
