By Lynda Myer
The Tideway project’s all three Joint Ventures were successful at the New Civil Engineer Tunneling Awards including winning in the Tunneling Team and Young Tunneler of the Year categories.
The five of the thirteen awards belonged to Main Works Contractors while the responsible for the central section of the super sewer Ignacio Tognaccini Sainz was named young Tunneler 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 Tunneling Team of the Year and Health, Safety & Wellbeing Initiative of the Year for how they have managed their workforce throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
Due to creating a method of linking concrete sections involving applying a soluble film that is in use for the first time, 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.
Additionally, on the eastern section the award for Project Legacy was given to the JV of Costain, Vinci Construction Grands Projets, and Bachy Soletanche because of their cooperation with The London Design and Engineering University Technical College.
According to Tideway Program Director, Andy Alder: “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.”
“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” stated Viv Jones, Project Director for Tideway’s central section JV of Ferrovial Construction and Laing O’Rourke.
Ignacio Tognaccini Sainz, Tunnel Agent on the central section main tunnel secondary lining operation, said: “It’s an honor 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 tunnelers the same way my managers and colleagues have encouraged me.”
