Underground Space Use and Tunnel Project Management

Date:

07/12/2018

Location:

Nairobi, Kenya

Participants:

At the request of Athi Water, (established under the Ministry of Water and Sanitation of Kenya), the ITACET Foundation organized a one-day training session on the topic of Underground Space Use and Tunnel Project Management, held in Nairobi on the 7th December 2018.

This was the first ever ITACET event to be held in Kenya, which currently has several major tunnelling projects underway, including the Northern Collector Tunnel. This project entails construction of a fully lined 11.8km, 3.2m diameter tunnel to collect 40% of flood water from Maragua, Gikige & Irati Rivers. The project will increase water supply to Nairobi by 140 million liters per day to serve an additional 1.2 million residents by December 2019.

The training session, aimed at engineers, architects, planners and public administrators, provided an introduction to the use of underground space to increase liveability and sustainability in urban areas and in other key public resource regions.

The session programme was established in collaboration with both the ITA's Committee on Education and Training and its Committee on Underground Space (ITACUS), kicking off with a look at the advantages and disadvantages of underground solutions, with examples from around the world. This was followed by a presentation on how underground space can help cities meet their challenges today and in the future. Human aspects and risks in underground space projects were also examined, along with regulatory, contractual, and financial issues. The main stages in the planning, design and construction of an underground project were discussed and the main tunnelling methods examined.

Case studies included an example of urban tunnel management and a microtunnelling and underground service network.

The three internationally renowned lecturers are all key figures within the International Tunnelling Association: Tarcisio Celestino, (the ITA President), Olivier Vion (the Association's Executive Director) and Han Admiraal (the ITACUS Chairman - pictured left).