01.03.12
Tunnel Boring
Source: Rail Technology Magazine Feb/March 2012
With Crossrail about to enter the crucial tunnelling phase, project manager Andy Alder says the key to success rests with getting the details right.
It’s Europe’s biggest construction project: a rail tunnel underneath one of the world’s busiest cities, linking east to west. It is high profile and complex in the extreme. It is also extremely ‘boring’, says the man in charge of the Western Tunnels contract.
“People used to enjoy dealing with a crisis but it’s not effective project management,” said Andy Alder, Crossrail project manager, who will oversee construction of the new tunnels from Royal Oak to Farringdon. “Good project management is about looking forward, dealing with things proactively, and solid planning so you don’t get the crisis at the end of it.”
Tunnelling on the western section will begin in late March. On that day the first giant Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), costing a cool £10m, will start boring into the earth deep beneath the capital’s streets – and won’t stop (essential maintenance aside) until the 6.5km tunnel is complete, some 18 months later.
Moving methodically – and relentlessly – at up to 120 metres per week, the machines will follow, to the millimetre, a carefully defined course, weaving their way through a maze of existing infrastructure and London Underground tunnels.
In short it’s not a straight A to B dig; it’s a zigzagging, up and down type of dig, through soft ground and hard. Therefore, it pays to plan ahead, lower the risk and avoid any untimely and costly surprises.
“One of the key challenges on a project of this type is what happens above the ground,” explained Alder. “There are a number of critical utilities that we pass under; the challenge therefore is to make sure all the engineering is done correctly so that we don’t affect them.
“There’s always a risk but it’s a very low probability, given the technical and organisational controls we have in place.”
As lead project manager on site, the scope of his responsibilities is wide-ranging. On the one hand it involves the ongoing monitoring of project works, including the two new stations at Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road. On the other it involves keeping everybody above and below ground informed of what’s going on.
He explained: “Now that we’ve got to the point where we’ve been awarded the contract, I have two main roles. One is to manage the contract and ensure that our contractor BFK is delivering to contract, and to the required standard.
“The other role is creating the right environment; there are a number of things that Crossrail need to do to enable the contractor to do their work. These include approvals and interfaces with other contractors.
“It’s about doing all things necessary to ensure the contractor can perform, and making sure the contractor does perform.”
Attention to detail, no matter how small, is a crucial part in the delivery of a project like Crossrail. The high-profile nature of the build places the project team under extra scrutiny, not only from senior figures but also the watching public, who may be directly inconvenienced by the build.
Alder said that one of the most complex technical challenges is managing the different stakeholders – from local community groups to statuary bodies – as each and every one needs to be satisfied that the same rigorous approach is being applied to every work site.
Get it wrong however, and the results could prove disastrous.
He explained: “When a site is handed over you need all the documentation in place to say everything that went before has been done correctly, or the next contractor could be picking up a liability over something far worse.”
After spending a career in tunnels (not literally) he is quick to acknowledge the sense of excitement and anticipation around the start of the tunnelling phase.
But the real buzz comes not from seeing the TBMs stir into action, or the extra publicity that surrounds it; for Alder it’s all about the right team and the right environment.
“The biggest buzz I get is when teams are working effectively: when everyone is doing things at the right time, supporting each other, doing things collaboratively, and dealing with changes that come along. It may be boring, routine stuff, but it gets the job done.”
Andy Alder is a member of the Association for Project Management (APM), the largest professional body of its kind in Europe, which aims to develop and promote the professional disciplines of project and programme management across all industry sectors.
(Image : Crossrail Ltd Dec 2011)
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