Lower Thames Crossing: Planning for Design – Postponed

Introduction

BGA Evening Meeting

Lower Thames Crossing: Planning for Design

by

Cedric Allenou

of

COWI / Lower Thames Crossing

Wednesday 20th May 2020 at 18:00 hours

Institution of Civil Engineers, One Great George Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3AA

This event has been postponed.

All BGA events up to August 2020 are postponed, and will be re-arranged for later dates in the 2020-21 session. The BGA regrets that this is necessary, but it is not appropriate to hold large meetings under the prevailing circumstances due to Covid-19.

This event is free to attend, advance booking is not required. Tea & coffee will be available from 17:30.

Synopsis

The Lower Thames Crossing is the most ambitious road construction project undertaken by Highways England since the construction of the M25. The project connects to the A2 and M2 in Kent, east of Gravesend, crossing under the Thames through two bored tunnels, before joining the M25 south of junction 29.

The route is approximately 23km long, of which 4.25km is in two tunnels of 16.5m internal diameter, the largest road tunnels in Europe and among the world's largest. For the associated highway works, in addition to the extensive earthworks, 60 new structures are required including viaducts, bridges, underpasses and footbridges.

The presentation will outline some of the most significant ground engineering challenges encountered during the development phase of the project. These are being addressed through a combination of desk study work and surveys, one of the largest ground investigation campaigns ever undertaken in the UK, and engagement with a wide range of external industry experts ahead of a Development Consent Order application later this year.

Speaker biographies

Cedric Allenou a Technical Director with COWI, a Chartered Engineer and RoGEP Adviser with over 20 years’ experience of geotechnical design and ground risk management. He has worked for consultants and contractors in a wide range of sectors, primarily infrastructure related, including roads/highways, water and wastewater, airports, rail, flood defences. His experience includes the integration and management of geotechnical and non-geotechnical activities on large multi-disciplinary construction projects.

Cedric is currently the Ground Engineering Lead on the Lower Thames Crossing project, managing a team of 65 professionals including geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists, hydrogeologists, geo-environmental scientists and CAD/BIM and GIS specialists. The Ground Engineering team is currently focussed on ground investigation scoping, execution and interpretation and hydrogeological and geo-environmental modelling and assessments to support highways and tunnels geotechnical design development and ground risk management, visualisation and communication.