Tunnelling has become a fragmented process, excessively influenced by lawyers'notions of confrontational contractual bases. This prevents the pooling of skills, essential to the achievement of the promoters' objectives. Tunnelling: Management by Design seeks the reversal of this trend. After a brief historical treatment of selected developments, the concept of design is defined in detail and related to systems and to risk, the central features of this book. A final chapter discusses the failure in 1994 of railway tunnels at Heathrow Airport which well illustrates the expensive results of disregard for several of the criteria for success.


The book covers all the main aspects of tunnelling:

• planning



• studies which contribute to the viability of a tunnel project



• the technical aspects of design · the management of construction



• overall project management



• a review of recent tunnel failures



• issues regarding dispute resolution and prevention

This book is an essential handbook for professional engineers engaged in all aspects of tunnelling and geotechnically-based construction, including those in public authorities, private consultants and contractors, plant manufacturers, and designers of specialist geoprocessors. It will also appeal to project managers, lawyers involved in contractual issues, and civil engineers from post-docs to professors and researchers in geotechnics and structures, in engineering management, health and safety, construction law and risk assessment.