Underground:

Salbertrand, Italy:

Led a group to design and follow up construction of a drainage tunnel aimed to slow down a 10Mm3 slide endangering various assets. The construction is located in a National Park. The access road was the object of delicate negotiations with environmental groups. Both the tunnel and the access road have been designed using risk based decision making.

Sebeillon Cable Tunnel, Lausanne, Switzerland:

The project consisted of a tunnel for the distribution of high voltage current THVC) planned in a very dense, urban site which includes houses and industrial buildings, and the underground, vaulted course of a creek. Layered bedrock of sandstone and shales is overlain by discontinuous moraine deposits, in turn overlain by several layers of domestic wastes and construction residues chaotically deposited during the past century. The turn-of-the-century buildings on the crest are characterized by deficient foundation systems. On the valley floor, the main existing structure was the old transformer plant, to be kept in service during the construction, including the undercrossing by the tunnel.

Monthey Access Tunnel, Monthey, Switzerland:

A 160 meter-long and 6 meter-wide access tunnel for two-way traffic was planned by the city of Monthey. Located under a major artery in the city, the tunnel accesses the five-level underground parking which we also designed. Innovative design had to be implemented in order to take into account the difficult geotechnical conditions, the extremely poor foundation systems of the adjacent buildings as well as the necessity of keeping the existing traffic as undisturbed as possible.

Flon Gallery. City of Lausanne:

Centralized Heating System A 400m long gallery was selected over the originally foreseen trenched channel to house heating pipes and other services through a very busy downtown area. The financial target imposed by the authorities was to design a trenchless solution for a price not higher that 1.15 the cost of the originally planned solution. An extensive investigation based on 100-year historical data and actual boreholes was performed, during which a large PCE (perchloroethylene) pollution in the quaternary and fill material resting over the sandstone/shales interstratified bedrock was discovered. By choosing pertinent vertical and horizontal layouts and an adequate excavation technique as well as specific solutions for dealing with the pollution and the long term stability of the cavity, the financial target imposed by the authorities was met and the construction completed within schedule.

Martinet Cable Tunnel, Malley, Switzerland:

This 250m long, 1.8m diameter cable tunnel was designed as a jacked pipe tunnel because of the very high density of the surface use of the terrain. The layout is parallel to a major national railroad track (Simplon Alp Crossing Line), in the close vicinity of residential and office buildings, underneath some industrial facilities and under a public garden. Because of the extremely stringent conditions relative to the railroad traffic and the presence of saturated loose sands and silts, a pretreatment of the soil was designed, encompassing the injection of the saturated deposits around the future tunnel. Detailed study relative to the possible non mapped obstacles was undertaken, by using geo-radar and highly sophisticated geophysical surveying equipment. Monitoring of the deformations of the neighboring buildings and railroad tracks was carried out by specialized OA crews by using inclinometers, clinometers and extensometers.

Imprimeries Reunies, Ecublens, Switzerland:

The 220m long. 10% ascending grade 2.0m diameters pipe had been designed by a third party, put to bid and was under construction when the jacking shaft backwall punched into the terrain and the shaft itself moved backwards 60cm. Called by the owner and asked to define the reasons for the accident, design remedial work, and provide guidance and technical support to both the original designer and the contractor on how to complete the job. The repair works as well as the interim program necessary to maintain the pipe during the repair operations were designed by our crisis management unit. Finally, the jacking operations were resumed and the job led to completion.