Emscher BA30 (construction lot 30) awarded the prize for best environmental initiative of the year by ITA
The International Tunnelling Association (ITA) with its head office in Geneva awarded the Emscher BA30 project the prize for the best environmental initiative of the year in the course of the Tunnelling Awards Ceremony 2016.
Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau, Tunnelling Division, Area Centre and Special Foundations (Spezialtiefbau GmbH), jointly built a total of 47 kilometres of tunnel and more than 100 shaft structures. The tunnels with inner diameters of predominantly 1.60 to 2.80 m were built using the pipe jacking method. Emschergenossenschaft (Emscher Association) with its head office in Essen is the client of this project. The construction project reaches from Dortmund in the East to Bottrop in the West. The contract was awarded in January 2012. The tunnels were driven between October 2012 and November 2015. The works for the shaft structures are still ongoing and will be finished on schedule by the end of September 2017.
The River Emscher and its tributaries had been used for disposal of wastewater since mid-19th century. As the mining industry grew accompanied by industrial settlement and an increase in population, additional canals for the disposal of wastewater were built. These were easy to maintain in the event of surface subsidence. Since the mining activities have been decreasing or the mines closing for several years and the open disposal of wastewater is no longer compatible with today’s environmental requirements, Emschergenossenschaft planned and awarded the contract for the construction of an underground tunnel system. Once this construction project has been completed, all canals will have been removed and the River Emscher as well as its tributaries will be recultivated. A huge local recreation area with cycle and hiking paths will be developed.
BA30 competed against two Norwegian construction projects for underground storage of waste in the final round. On November 11, all three projects were presented during the ITA Awards Ceremony 2016 in Singapore. Later in the evening the time had come: BA30 with the title „The Emscher Project – Back to Nature!“ was awarded first prize in this category. The award was handed over to Martin Froning (Emschergenossenschaft) and Dr. Klaus Rieker (Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG).
Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG, Tunnelling Division, with their client Shell and the Corrib project in Ireland had already won in the same category in 2015.
From left to the right: Ow Chun Nam (past TUCSS President), Dr. Klaus Rieker (Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG), T. C. Chew (past CEO Land Transport Authority Singapore), Prof. Tarcisio Celestino (ITA President), Dr. Martin Herrenknecht (Herrenknecht AG), Kulaindran Ariaratnam (TUCSS President), Dr. Oskar Sigl (TUCSS Committee Member)
TUCSS = Tunnelling and Underground Construction Society Singapore