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  European Project NeTTUN – Making it happen

  Innovation is key to success in today’s business as it is the only way future revenues can be achieved. It is also contributes in improving our daily life and perspective, with more efficient health care, better quality products and technologies, and products and services that are less harmful to the people and environment. However innovation is a continuous process and a resource consuming one. Overall it may be seen as a costly activity. Supporting innovation for a better life today and in the future is a key strategy of the European Union. Through its subsequent Framework Programmes, the European Commission (EC) has funded thousands of R&D projects benefiting the European economy, education level, and knowledge. Although underground construction can probably be seen by non-professionals as a Low Tech sector, it has undergone very fast and remarkable changes with the introduction of innovations such as Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM), first for hard rock and more recently for soft ground, using pressurised machines. Tunnelling with TBMs has become an essential approach and construction companies have gained confidence in the technology through time. As a consequence, tunnel projects are getting more and more challenging, because of deeper excavation and higher pressure, larger diameters, longer tubes, and because of their situation in densely built and populated areas in large cities. Mastering these challenges – i.e. building more and more tunnels in fully safe conditions for the workers, for the population, for the existing buildings and infrastructure, and for the users of these tunnels – is a necessity for the coming years in order to meet the expectations for better transportation systems, better clean water distribution and sewage systems.

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