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Sustainability as an integral component of underground
infrastructure tunnelling in an urban environment
Steven Unthank
Curtin University
29 May 2016
City dwellers, as they go about their daily life within their chosen urban environment, seldom
give any thought to the fact that beneath their roads and footpaths lay a vast infrastructure
network that interconnects the operating and maintenance systems of their entire city. In
many large modern capital cities this underground network can include utility tunnels for
power and water, sewerage tunnels and even rail tunnels. Although underground space is
establishing itself as an integral component of current and future above-ground sustainable
urban planning, further attention is needed by stakeholders in incorporating sustainable
design criteria as an integral component of underground tunnelling from the conception stage.
Basic underground tunnelling construction methods can trace their origin back to ancient
times (Frumkin and Shimron 2006, 234). Many ancient cultures have engaged in tunnelling
in one form or another- from the primitive mining of raw materials, including stone and iron
ore, to the specialised mining of gems and precious metals such as silver and gold. The
construction of the Siloam Tunnel beneath Jerusalem in the eighth century BCE (Sneh,
Weinberger and Shalev 2010, 57) highlights the historical social awareness that
infrastructure, in this case an underground water utility tunnel, has a practical and ongoing
sustainable role within an urban society.
Despite human society's initial sustainable approach towards rudimentary tunnel construction
and excavation, many modem city planners are faced with a complex series of non-
sustainable existing underground tunnels created by their predecessors. These disorganised
tunnel systems have, in many cases, been greatly contributed to by the industrialisation and
evolution of modem cities. This growth and expansion of modern cities has seen the ever
increasing sporadic relocation of utilities from above ground to underground with little regard
to future sustainability issues (Canto-Perello and Curiel-Esparza 2013, 82). Today's multi-
purpose utility underground tunnel structures, such as those used beneath London streets, can
, trace their engineering history back to the days of the Roman Empire (Canto-Perello and
Curiel-Esparza 2013, 83). Their open-cut engineered tunnel construction process often
necessitates the closure of large sections of roadways and can be very disruptive to the
community. Engineering advances achieved over the past I 00 years have had very little
effect on the basic open-cut process for utility tunnel construction (Hunt, Nash and Rogers
2014). Although underground utility tunnels form an integral and important part of modern
urban infrastructure the traditional approach of open-cut and cut-and-cover construction is no
longer practicable and neither can it be sustainable in the long term. However, by their
inherent design criteria multi-purpose utility tunnels can be sustainable as they are primarily
designed to achieve sustainability through the commissioning of underground space for a
variety of utility purposes.
Around the world many large cities owe their current layout and infrastructure design to
inconsistent planning decisions made centuries ago, and in some cases, such as Rome,
thousands of years ago. From the onset of the Second Industrial Revolution the unrelenting
sprawl of the urban city landscape has created an organic underground utilities tunnel
network that has spread with little regard for long-term sustainability issues (Canto-Perello,
Curiel-Esparza and Calvo 2013, 4707). In learning from historical urban infrastructure
mistakes modern city planners are now adopting built environment sustainability principles
Steven Unthank
(Kevern 2011, 107). In addition, today's society in general is increasingly becoming aware
of the need for sustainability within the built environment, especially within larger cities.
This awareness, coupled with ever increasing government public policy that is shifting
towards sustainability for the Jong term, is driving city planners and researchers to take a
more all-encompassing societal approach to infrastructure planning rather than project-by-
project thinking (Boyle et al. 20 l 0, 4873).
Unfortunately some infrastructure decisions can still be made with little regard for the
sustainability of the city overall as opposed to the sustainability of the political careers of the
politicians making them. In commenting on modem sustainability in an ever-changing
political climate, Mark Jarzombek wrote "as sustainability becomes ever more involved in
the politics-of-change, it becomes saturated with the problem of hypocrisy" (Vandevyvere
and Heyne 2014, 352 quoting Jarzombek 1999, 33). The adoption of a sustainable approach
to underground tunnel construction in general involves more than just the actual construction
process, political promises, or the delivering of the project as has historically been the case.
While modem cities rapidly increase in population and size, statutory city planners are having
to resort to relocating an ever increasing volume of essential infrastructure services
underground (Marshall and Haji 2015, 43). In balancing sustainability issues within the
construction process, Shen et al. (2010, 256) recommends the inclusion of"economical,
social and environmental issues" at the project conceptualisation stage. If a balanced
approach is applied to the commissioning of underground utility tunnels within major cities
then it would be feasible to conclude that any tunnels commissioned would also be
constructed within the parameters of any current regulatory requirements relating to
sustainability.
For a company involved in the development of urban infrastructure, including underground
utility tunnels, sustainability can include the idea of creating a genuine corporate environment
that promotes sustainability as a marketing business advantage (Shen et al. 2010, 254). The
design of a privately-owned sustainable building is often generally carried out to meet the
specific needs of the owner. With regards to public infrastructure, public buildings, and
public benefit underground utility services, the design should also satisfy the requirements
and needs of the service user. To achieve this requires the consideration of stakeholders
towards implementing a sustainable approach. Rekola, Makelainen and Hakkinen (2012, 78)
draw attention to the design phase of buildings and infrastructure as an appropriate time for
stakeholders to introduce sustainable construction methods and materials into the project.
The consideration of innovation by stakeholders can also be viewed as an appropriate launch )
to address sustainability within the built environment (Hakkinen and Belloni 2011 , 246). As
is often the case in relation to underground tunnel construction sustainable design principles
are seldom adopted when carrying out site exploration. Sustainability in tunnelling
construction can benefit from consideration of ground settling in tunnel construction so that
better protection can be afforded to adjacent infrastructure thereby creating an overall
sustainable project (Gong et al. 2014, 70).
Today, as sustainable design principles are rapidly becoming an integral part of the built
environment, many government departments now require specific sustainability principles
and criteria be addressed when developing new infrastructure projects. A sustainability
criterion also needs to be included as an integral component of project specifications for it to
be effectively implemented into construction projects (Lam et al. 2011 , 789). In the
construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel, which forms a major section of the trans-European
transport route, the chosen sustainable construction process required the implementing "of an
interdisciplinary planning and design process, in which not only the classic construction
professionals in infrastructure design but also specialists for rai lway equipment and
operational management are involved" (Eckbauer, Insam and Zierl 2014, 601).
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Steven Unthank
It is only in recent years that sustainability issues have been considered in relation to the
design and construction of multi-purpose underground utility tunnels within major cities.
Gharouni-Nik at al. (2014, 1-2) found, in their case studies on the analysis of tunnel support
systems, that fundamentally sound tunnel engineering benefits from the introduction of
sustainable design at the outset. Engelhardt, Schwarz and Thewes (2014, 594) go further and
argue that the sustainability of tunnel construction should not be based solely on construction
costings. It may just be that to create sustainable underground infrastructure we may have to
look back to our basic roots, namely tunnelling within the urban environment for the benefit
of future generations, such as was the benefit in the construction of the Siloam Tunnel
beneath Jerusalem 2700 years ago. To achieve such a balance infrastructure planners may
need to approach the design of utility tunnels from a long-term sustainable perspective rather
than a quick-fix solution to a pressing problem- limited above ground space in urban cities.
Historically construction related disciplines have indirectly complimented each other for the
improvement of urban infrastructure without actually working together for mutual
improvement, sustainability and advancement (Yao 2013, 2). In today's urban city a multi-
stakeholder approach towards the built environment necessitates a joint cooperative of all
built environment disciplines to achieve the desired outcome. By working together these
various disciplines can contribute towards a positive outcome in the creation of sustainable
underground tunnel infrastructure for our modern urban cities. In all such cases consideration
of fundamental sustainability principles should be undertaken as early as possible, preferably
at the project conceptualisation stage of underground tunnelling. This should then be
followed through during the design process, the construction process, and the commissioning
process. In achieving sustainability as an integral component of infrastructure tunnelling
stakeholders can achieve a beneficial outcome economically, environmentally, politically,
and also socially, thereby creating a potential win-win situation for all.
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