The German company Herrenknecht constructing the giant, state-of-the-art Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) which will be used for the biggest waste water tunnel ever to be built in Scotland reached a key stage recently.
The cutting head for the 1000 tonne, 180 metre-long TBM was put in place at the front of the machine and the factory test was conducted.
The TBM will start constructing the tunnel will run between Craigton and Queen’s Parkin the south of Glasgow next year.
At 3.1 miles long, the £100m Shieldhall Tunnel,will be five times longer than the Clyde Tunnel and at 4.7 metres in diameter big enough to fit a double decker bus inside.
The Tunnel is a key part of Scottish Water’s £250m, five-year programme of work, launched in 2013, to improve river water quality and the natural environment and tackle flooding - the biggest investment in the Greater Glasgow area’s waste water infrastructure in more than a century.
The team involved in the Shieldhall Tunnel for Scottish Water, known as the Glasgow Tunnel Partnership, is a commercial joint venture between Costain and VINCI Construction Grands Projets (correct) called CVJV, with additional local partners George Leslie and AECOM. Technical support is being provided by CH2M.
Costain and VINCI have been involved in some of the world’s major projects, including the Channel Tunnel. CVJV’s preparatory work on the Shieldhall Tunnel is progressing and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2016. The TBM will be brought in several parts from Germany to Scotland and re-assembled before the tunnelling proper will begin.
The Shieldhall Tunnel is expected to be completed by about the end of 2017.
Herrenknecht TBMs are being used in London’s Crossrail project, one of Europe’s biggest construction projects, and others such as the Doha Metro in Qatar, an undersea highway tunnel in Hong Kong, China and the world’s longest railway tunnel in the Swiss Alps.
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