ITA Announces Finalists for 2020 Awards

The International Tunnelling Association (ITA) is presenting the 6^th edition of the ITA Tunnelling and Underground Space Awards on Dec. 3-4. This year, the Awards conference will be held as a virtual conference. It will be a new challenging experience allowing everyone from all over the globe to attend and discover the most interesting projects.

It is important to continue celebrating success in our industry and this can be done through the ITA Awards. For this edition, some changes are proposed in the categories with notably a category “Overcoming the challenge” for projects which overcame either foreseen or unforeseen extreme challenges during excavation and construction and another one named “Oddities of the Underground” celebrating the creativity, ingenuity, and imagination of the human spirit in its endeavors underground.

The first five editions of the awards were held in-person in Switzerland, Singapore, France, China and USA.

ITA has released the finalists for each of the categories, they are:

FOR THE CATEGORY “MAJOR PROJECT OF THE YEAR” (WITH A BUDGET OVER 500 M€):

• Jinjiazhuang Spiral tunnel project of Yanqing to Chongli expressway, China
• John Holland CPB Ghella Joint Venture Tunnelling and Station Excavation Works for the Sydney Metro City & Southwest Project, Australia
• Ryfast – Construction of the world’s longest sub-sea road tunnel, Norway

FOR THE CATEGORY “PROJECT OF THE YEAR” (WITH A BUDGET BETWEEN 50 AND 500 M€)

• Chinatown Station of the Central Subway Program – San Francisco, USA
• Large scale underpass using multiple construction methods at Banxuegang hightech-city in Shenzhen, China
• Micangshan Tunnel on G85 Expressway, China
• Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project, Sri Lanka

FOR THE CATEGORY “PROJECT OF THE YEAR INCL. RENOVATION” (WITH A BUDGET UP TO 50 M€)

• FEDRO’s Tunnel Renovation Method – renovation of a non-reinforced primary lining using night shifts while keeping all traffic lanes open during the day, Switzerland
• Lower Otta Hydropower Project, Norway
• The Integration of Subway Station Construction and Ecological Environment Protection in Complex Environment, China
• Züblin – Nord Stream 2 Trenchless Shore Crossing (Microttunnel), Germany

FOR THE CATEGORY “TECHNICAL INNOVATION OF THE YEAR”

• An Innovative Automated Geological Forward-prospecting Technique Mounted on Hard-rock TBM, China
• An Innovative GB-InSAR System for Real-time Tunnel Face Safety Monitoring, Italy
• Innovative digital condition assessment of Brunel brick tunnels, United Kingdom
• Laser-guided system for conventional tunneling, Spain

FOR THE CATEGORY “OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGE”

• 3℃ Ultra-high Ground Temperature Treatment for Sangzhuling Tunnel in Nyingchi-Lhasa Section of Sichuan-Tibet Railway, China
• Chengdu-Guiyang High-speed Railway—Yujingshan Mountain Tunnel Crossing Giant Karst Cave and Underground River, China
• High performance EPB excavation in mixed face and variable ground with up to 7 bar groundwater pressure, Mexico

FOR THE CATEGORY “ODDITIES OF THE UNDERGROUND”

• The Spiral Tunnel (Drammen), Norway
• Tunneling in the service of archaeology, Israel

FOR THE CATEGORY “INNOVATIVE AND CONTRIBUTING UNDERGROUND SPACES”

• Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Padur, India
• Shenzhen Chegongmiao Integrated Traffic Hub Project, China
• Union Square Market Street Station – Battered Drilled Shafts as Permanent Ground Support, United States of America

FOR THE CATEGORY “YOUNG TUNNELLER OF THE YEAR”

• Dimitrios Litsas, Greece
• Josh Barry, Australia
• Laurence Delplace, Belgium
• Qingfang Liu, China
• Sandeep Singh Nirmal, India

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