All set for WTC Dubai 12 Apr 2018

Across the three-day Congress schedule simultaneous conference sessions will discuss topics to include:

Download your copy of the Congress Programme

• Multi-utility tunnels – The ultimate solution
• Contractual risk sharing – a win/win arrangement
• The right tunnelling construction method for the right application
• Maintenance-free design in sewer tunnels – fact or fiction
• Urban dewatering and flood control with underground structures
• Review of current design methods for mined tunnelling projects
• Innovation in tunnelling technologies
• CAPEX vs OPEX – how to define life cycle project cost
• Sustainable use of underground space
• Ground engineering and risk management
• Advances in the material sector
• Repair and maintenance of underground structures
• Smart City – how can underground space contribute
• The importance of project management in project development
• Case studies on TBM projects
• Life safety for underground structures

The World Tunnel Congress Dubai will also host the 44th General Assembly of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA). At the General Assembly, representatives of the current 74 member nations will be updated on the activity of the Association’s Executive Council and report on the activity of its four Committees:

Download the ITACUS Open Session Programme

• ITA-COSUF
• ITA-CET
• ITACUS
• ITATech

• WG 2: Research
• WG 3: Contractual Practices
• WG 5: Health and Safety in Works
• WG 6: Maintenance and Repair
• WG 9: Seismic Effects
• WG 11: Immersed and Floating Tunnels
• WG 12: Sprayed Concrete Use
• WG 14: Mechanized Tunnelling
• WG 15: Underground and Environment
• WG 17: Long Tunnels at Great Depth
• WG 19: Conventional Tunnelling
• WG 20: Urban Problems, Underground Solutions
• WG 21: Life Cycle Asset Management
• WG 22: Information Modelling in Tunnelling

An Open Session by the ITA Committee on the Use of Underground Space will explore how underground spaces can enable cities to develop sustainably and become resilient, challenging contemporary thinking to move towards new paradigms for the future. Co-Chairs Antonia Cornaro and Han Admiraal of ITACUS will host the session and explain the work of ITACUS and how you can contribute in your country to help cities shift towards an urban underground future. As part of the Session Petr Salak will report on the Young Professional Think Deep Program (YPTDP) and its participation in the World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur in February 2018. The National Action Think Deep Program (NATDP) will also be featured. Presentations on new developments, research, and initiatives will include the new SCAUT initiative on investigating underground spaces for urban food production.

Download the programme of the ITA-CET education short course

As an important mission of the ITA and its member Nations and major sponsors, the education of the next generation of professionals is a high priority. As part of the WTC programme, a short course hosted by the ITA Committee on Education and Training is held over the two days before the start of the Congress on 21-22 April 2018. Dedicated to the programme of presentations on The Main Opportunities and Technical Issues in Tunnelling, the first day of the course will provide an introduction to the basics of tunnelling, presenting the advantages and challenges of underground space use, especially in urban areas. The second day will focus on more complex technical aspects related to tunnelling, including ground investigations, main design parameters, different construction methods and their fields of application, and will move on to look at underground structures for specific purposes such as energy storage, underground nuclear waste repositories and hydropower scheme machine-hall caverns. Spaces are still available for the short course and registrations are open on the WTC 2018 website.

All welcomed to the Dubai World Trade Centre venue

The Tunnelling Chapter of the UAE Society of Engineers was formally recognised as an ITA Member Nation in 2011. The Society of Engineers was formed in 1979 and today has 40,000 members. It is a member of the Arab Engineers Federation, the World Federation Engineering Organization, and the Gulf Engineering Union. With a goal to unite the regional tunnelling industry and promote the development and use of underground space, the SOE UAE Tunnelling Chapter organizes the Arabian Tunnelling Conference each year and attends regional relevant events such as Middle East Rail. The UAE Tunnelling Chapter with be the first to host the World Tunnel Congress in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council).

TunnelTalk is the Official Media Partner of the World Tunnel Congress in Dubai and we look forward to meeting our friends, colleagues and contacts at our Booth 50 in the Exhibition Hall.

See you there!