The 44th ITA-AITES General Assembly and Wold Tunnel Congress (WTC) took place on April 21 – 26, 2018 in Dubai, UAE. The congress’ main theme this year was “How can underground spaces enable cities to develop sustainably and become resilient?”. The Society of Engineers UAE (SOE UAE) must take credit for this year’s excellent organisation and for selecting an exceptional venue at Dubai World Trade Centre, the epicentre for business tourism in the region.
In total, the conference had more than 1500 delegates, more than 130 exhibitors, and more than 200 podium and poster presentations from more than 40 countries. Although most of the attendees were industry affiliated, academia had also a strong presence with cutting edge research been broadly shared.
The first two days of the conference included ITA Committee and Working Group meetings as well as the ITACET tunnelling training courses. A full 3-day technical programme kicked off on Monday with an excellent Muir Wood lecture been delivered by Prof. Cording on tunnel induced ground movements. The technical sessions that followed covered a broad spectrum of topics such as mega projects in MENA and abroad, TBM case studies, construction safety and risks, contract risks, innovative technologies, planning and design as well as smart cities and sustainability.
We would like to give a special note to the latter which was hosted by the ITA Committee of Underground Space (ITACUS) in line with the congress’ theme. Pressing issues revolving around urban development and associated new technologies, research and methodologies that could lead to potential solutions were discussed. As part of this session, the Think Deep Programme national actions and initiatives and the new book “Underground Spaces Unveiled – Planning and Creating the Cities of the Future” by the ITACUS co-chairs Han Admiral and Antonia Cornaro were presented.
Also, we were impressed by the quality of the discussion at the Round Table on contractual challenges and practices for the 21st century attended by a high-level panel of owners, financing institutions, engineering companies and contractors. During the session, a new sophisticated contract model specifically tailored to the needs of design and build tunnelling projects was presented. The FIDIC Emerald Book is a joint effort of ITA and FIDIC and will be released towards the end of the year.
Of course, Dr Sauer and Partners couldn’t miss such an event! Two of our employees attended the 2018 WTC in Dubai. Petr Salak, Senior Tunnel Engineer, who presented on Crossrail Farringdon Station and Think Deep UK as part of the ITACUS session, and Chara Kalogeraki, Tunnel Engineer, who represented the BTSYM in the ITAym meetings and elections.
Next year the WTC 2019 will be hosted in Naples with a very exciting and promising theme: “Tunnels and Underground Cities: Engineering and Innovation meet Archaeology, Architecture and Art”. Dr Sauer & Partners will definitely be there again!