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ITA Tunnelling Awards 2024 ...and the winners

Such are the projects, innovations and individuals honoured in the 2024 series of Awards by the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association. At a day of presentations and roundtable discussions by the finalists, a gala celebration in the evening celebrated the Gold, Silver and Bronze recipients of the Brunel Trophy in each of the seven categories. These Award winners, together with celebrating outstanding achievements, provide clear indications on where the industry is heading, how technology is advancing, how significant underground infrastructure projects are shaping societies, how procurement, planning, design, construction, operation and renovation of underground infrastructure is evolving; and of how the new generation of young engineers are seeing the world and its future needs and demands.

Congratulations to all the winners and to the more than 100 entries from 29 countries who made the 2024 series of the ITA Awards a great success.

TunnelTalk reporting

December 2024

Gold, Silver and Bronze Brunel Trophy recipients gathered for the group congratulations for their achievement in each of the seven categories

Major Project of the Year – €500 million+

Gold - Thames Tideway Tunnel - London’s New Super Sewer

The Thames Tideway project in London provides a 25km long solution to intercept 34 combined sewer overflows and prevent pollution of the River Thames. Costing £4.5 billion, the project employed six TBMs operating simultaneously to reduce current sewage discharges into the river by 95%.

Silver - Grand Central Madison Project, New York, USA

Underground access of the Long Island Rail Road into underground platform caverns beneath Grand Central Station in Manhattan.

Bronze - Singapore Thomson-East Coast line, Contracts T222 to T310

Innovative solutions applied for threading the new underground metro line beneath the congested surface and crowded underground environment of the Marina area of Singapore.

Highly commended - Single-bore Double-deck Municipal Expressway Tunnel, China

10

years of outstanding underground infrastructure excellence

Since 2015, the ITA Tunnelling Awards competition has recognised remarkable achievements in the tunnelling and underground space industry. Organized by the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, the event has showcased the most ambitious underground projects from all over the world together with the latest innovations, techniques, and methods and with recognition of the new generation of Young Tunnellers and the Lifetime Achievement of outstanding leaders and scholars of the industry. View the video to chart the development and achievements of each Awards series since the first in Switzerland in 2015. Follow the link to know the full results of past ITA annual Awards

The Tideway supersewer project to prevent CSO pollution into the famous River Thames of London (left) is presented the Brunel Gold prize for the mega project category by ITA President Arnold Dix (right, from left) and received by John Sage and Brooke Knight, Senior Project Manager, of the project and congratulated by Andres Marulanda, ITA Executive Council Vice President and Chair of the 2024 series of the ITA Tunnelling Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award 2024

Professor Pietro Lunardi, Italy

Engineer Professor Pietro Lunardi has been instrumental in advancing the art of underground space engineering and excavation during his long and illustrious career.

Facing the challenges of creating underground infrastructure in the most extreme of geologies through the Alps and mountains of Italy and beneath its major cities, Pietro Lunardi developed the ADECO-RS method for excavation through squeezing and high stress-stain geological conditions to predict the construction time and costs of working under such extreme conditions for the first time, as well as the cellular arch method used for excavation of the extraordinarily wide-span, largesection cavern for the Venezia underground station for the Metro Milano, which earned for him the Engineering News Record, Man of the Year Award in 1990. Watch the video to know more about the exceptional career of Professor Lunardi who not only set a benchmark for excellence but also inspired countless others to follow in his footsteps.

A worthy recipient of 2024 ITA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Project of the Year - €50-€500 million

Professor Pietro Lunardi receives his well-deserved Lifetime Achievement honour with (from left) his son Giuseppe Lunardi, ITA President Arnold Dix, SIG Past President Andrea Pigorini, Professor Lunardi and Renato Casale current SIG President

Gold - Brenner Base Tunnel - Lot H52 Hochstegen, Austria

Recognising the determination and techniques engaged to overcome extreme waterbearing geological conditions on the 5km section of the exploratory and main running tunnels of the Austria-Italy Brenner Base Tunnel at Hochstegen in Austria

Silver - Isarco River Underpass - Lot H71, Brenner Base Tunnel, Italy

Advanced techniques, including artificial ground freezing, were used to bring single- and double-track tunnels under the Isarco River for the Brenner Base railway project in Italy.

Bronze - Lyon-Turin Saint-Martin-la-Porte Exploratory Tunnel, France

Complex geological challenges were identified and overcome in the exploratory tunnel of the critical Mont-Cenis Base Tunnel section of the France-Italy Lyon-Turin railway project.

Highly commended - Musaimeer Pump Station and Outfall Project, Qatar

Roundtable discussion of the the four finalists in the category Project of the Year €50-€500 million

Renovation Project of the Year

Gold - Manfreida Road Tunnel Renovation Project, Italy

Renovation of the highway tunnel was divided into two phases to minimize traffic disruption, using technologies including prefabricated elements, high-performance sprayed concrete and the Road Zipper technique to quickly and safely move barriers to create optimal lane changes to keeping traffic flowing.

Silver - Refurbishment of the Heinenoord Immersed Tube Road Tunnel, Netherlands

Renovation of the immersed tube road tunnel that opened in 1969 involved construction of a central escape and utilities gallery, complete replacement of technical installations, concrete repairs, and asbestos removal while keeping closure of the vital link to a minimum.

Bronze - Genoa Railway Junction Capacity Upgrade, Italy

Rehabilitation of abandoned tunnels and construction of new links have upgraded the city’s capacity to manage freight and passenger traffic to link the Port of Genoa to the Trans-European Corridor and ports in the north of Europe.

Innovative Road Zipper replacing lane barriers during the Manfrieda renovation project

Beyond Engineering

Gold - Modern Underground Cemetery

- Where Creativity, Sustainability and Efficiency Meet Tradition, Israel

The re-use of space beneath an existing cemetery for a first-of-its-kind underground cemetery in compliance with strict ultra-Orthodox requirements to solve an acute shortage in burial space while avoiding encroachment on sensitive open space.

Silver - City Rail Link Goes Beyond in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, New Zealand

Prioritising local history and indigenous Māori culture and working together with the Māori mana whenua tribes on the design, environment and social outcomes of building the City Rail Link for Auckland, New Zealand.

Product/Equipment Innovation of the Year

Gold - Ultra-Small Turning Radius Hard Rock TBM, China

A 3.53m diameter TBM designed and supplied by CREG to achieve curves with a turning radius of less than 30m, about 10 times the tunnel diameter, for a pumped storage power station in China.

Silver - SOGUN: Geometric Control System for Shotcreting and Other Tunnelling Works, Spain

An automated process that scans the tunnel in 3D with an integrated LiDAR to generate a surface point cloud and indicate areas of excess or missing concrete thickness compared to the preloaded theoretical surface.

Bronze - Advanced Hybrid Wireless Sensor Network System for Safety Risk Sensing in Tunnel and Underground Engineering, China

A real-time wireless sensor monitoring system that overcomes three critical challenges: unstable data transmissions; non-cooperated measurements when using mixed systems from various suppliers; and slow response to early warnings when wireless sensors are in deep battery saving hibernation mode.

Highly commended - Type 0° to 90° Continuous Conveyor system, China

Beyond engineering to provide extra burial space beneath an existing cemetery

Bronze - Eco-friendly Metro Construction for Challenging Coastal Geological Environments, China

The Qingdao Metro Line 6 (Phase I) Project successfully developed and promoted a series of prefabrication and assembly construction technologies for urban mass transit to vigorously advance the eco-friendly and low-carbon transformation and upgrading of metro construction.

Highly commended - Risk Control for Safe Shield Tunnelling Through Complex Strata of the Pearl River System, China

Technical Innovation of the Year

Gold - Disc Cutter Wear Sensor Package and TBM Monitoring System, South Korea

Based on magnetic sensors, the relative distance between the disc cutter ring and the magnetic sensor increases as the disc cutter wears to predict when discs need replacing rather than relying on man-entry interventions.

Silver - MIRET-Tunnel AI, Italy

An IT environment for planning and management of infrastructure aiming at digital transformation of the whole asset management and life cycle, from element inspection to decision-making.

Bronze - Advanced Tunnelling Assistance System, Italy

Real-time TBM data analysis and monitoring data using AI/machine learning to permit a continuous monitoring of the excavation and TBM performance to estimate changes in geological conditions at the face and update settlement criteria evaluations to effectively mitigate risk.

Young Tunneller of the Year Luigi D’Angelo (left) with Lifetime Achievement Award recipiant Professor Lunardi

Young Tunneller of the Year

Gold - Luigi D’Angelo, Italy, 34

Envisaging a new role of providing support and coordination to underground projects across Italy to help standardise design choices and processes to improve and simplify the productive chain for clients and all parties involved.

Silver - Hanan Samadi, Iran, 28

Advancing her career in a male-dominated industry and in a fiercely traditional environment.

Bronze - Adriano Martoccia, Italy, 33 Driving progress and innovation is a career ambition.

In concluding the ITA Awards ceremony for 2024, ITA President Arnold Dix gave a heartfelt thanks to Member Nation Italy and its SIG Società Italiana Gallerie for organising and hosting a highly successful and memorable event in Genoa. Recognition was also given to the Sponsors and Supports of the event (hotlinked logos below) who contributed financially and continue to support the development of the industry across their fields of expertise.

In recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the Società Italiana Gallerie, TunnelTalk published its Special Italy Focus and Site Visit Case Studies by Editor Shani Wallis during her early career from 1982 to the early 2000s. These articles chart the significant role that Italy and Italian projects, contractors and consultants have played in advancing the underground infrastructure industry both nationally and globally.

Having enjoyed the success of the 2024 series of the Awards, the industry looks forward to the 2025 series to be held in Belgrade, Serbia, in conjunction with the 2025 SETC Southeastern Europe Tunnelling Conference from 1-3 October 2025. The call for entries will open in May 2025 and all are welcome to Belgrade in October 2025. n