Tunnelling through under ream piles for Bank Station upgrade wins 2019 Fleming Award
The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is pleased to announce the results of the 2019 Fleming Award. Three shortlisted finalists presented at the Fleming Award evening on 4 December 2019 at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London.
The Fleming Award Competition is held annually to commemorate the life and work of Dr Ken Fleming and to recognise excellence in the practical application of geotechnics in a project or a part of a project. Entries are invited from teams which will typically include representatives from Clients, Main Contractors, Consulting Engineers, Specialist Contractors and so on. The award is presented to the Project Team which most demonstrates excellence in geotechnical design & construction. There is an emphasis on teamwork across the different disciplines involved in the project. Consideration is also given to projects which are innovative.
The Fleming Award is supported by Cementation Skanska.
The judges were Yvonne Ainsworth of Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions (representing the BGA), Jim Mckey of McGee and James Court of Cementation Skanska.
The first presentation was from the Woodsmith Mine shaft in North Yorkshire (project team Bauer Technologies, Sirius Minerals plc, Arup, Datum, and Geotechnical Experts Ltd) which described the diaphragm walling for the upper sections of a very deep mine shaft under construction as part of a Polyhalite mining project.
The second presentation was from the Bank Underground Station upgrade project in Central London (project team Transport for London, Arup, The Worshipful Company of Grocers, Dragados UK, and Dr Sauer & Partners) which described tunnelling through a group of under reamed piles beneath an existing building.
The third presentation was on Tideway East – Deptford Church Street chalk fissure investigation in East London (project team Costain Vinci Bachy Soletanche JV, Tideway, Golder, Mott MacDonald, WJ Groundwater, SOCOTEC, European Geophysical Services, ChalkRock Ltd, Preene Groundwater Consulting, and Imperial College London ) which described the investigation and sealing of a major fissure during sinking of a deep shaft in the Chalk.
During the judges deliberations, Rachel Monteith of BuroHappold gave a keynote presentation entitled Viable sustainability.
The judges said that all three presentations were outstanding and that there was a long discussion over the winner before Tunnelling through under ream piles for Bank Underground Station upgrade was selected as the 2019 Fleming Award Winner.
