ABSTRACT

Tradition in tunnelling, as in other areas of construction, has entailed a differentiation between what is designated as ‘engineering’ and what is described as ‘management of construction’. For successful projects for the future, in recognition of the increasing integration between functions, this barrier needs to be broken down. Of course, people will continue to be charged with specific functions to perform but the whole management structure needs to encourage appreciation of the interdependence of functions. Nowhere is this more necessary than for tunnelling involving application of Observational Design (Section 2.7) or ‘Informal Support’ (Section 5.2). The tradition of separation is so strong that inertia against change has caused design-and-build projects, potentially capable of full integration, to remain locked into outdated roles, and hence to perform suboptimally. Overall success of the project is the shared goal, as against parochial success of one faction (possibly demonstrated by some performance indicator) at the expense of the subdivided responsibility of another.