North American Special - Trenchless International

Dec Downey
Istt Chairman
Trenchless Middle East, organised
recently in Dubai by Westrade Group,
was a great success attracting almost
70 participating companies and a host
of visitors from 32 countries. A large
group of German companies, led by
GSTT Chairman Prof Jens Hoelterhoff and
Secretary Klaus Beyer, participated and
we were once again generously entertained
by the German Consul General
at the residence. We enjoyed the participation
of some 30 delegates in our
Trenchless Masterclass and the lively
discussions spilled over into the breaks,
signalling that the event formula is working
and, with experience, will improve
even more. Westrade’s performance in
Dubai hopefully gives us just a hint of
what they will be able to achieve for ISTT
in Singapore in 2010.
This weekend I am travelling to Hong
Kong to promote the objectives of ISTT by
speaking at the International Conference
on Utility Management and Safety, many
thanks to our HKSTT colleagues for securing
this invitation. In preparation I have
spent some time thinking through ideas
about the contribution our technologies
make to 21st Century pipeline construction
and rehabilitation. We often speak
about the challenges of ageing underground
infrastructure and the benefits
of our technologies in addressing urban
renewal with minimum disruption, but
there is much more to say about the contribution
of Trenchless Technology to the
maintenance of existing networks and the
construction of pipelines for the future.
It seems to me that many of today’s
problems can be attributed as much
to the historic choices of materials and
methodology available at the time of construction
as to time-related deterioration
and shortcomings in construction supervision.
With the clarity of hindsight, we can
identify some of our past mistakes and
build on this hard-earned understanding
to do better for our communities, and the
trenchless option has so much to offer in
these initiatives.
Trenchless methods facilitate construction
with less joints or better-made joints,
with potentially more durable materials
and with less reliance on hard-to-supervise
skills in the darker corners of the
underground. Today we have improved
geotechnical exploration and utility location
skills, though further development is
required. The practices of microtunnelling,
pipe ramming and horizontal directional
drilling have improved substantially.
Modern pipe materials properly installed
by these methods must surely offer sustainable
solutions to the challenge.
We have an increasing tool box of technologies
to address ageing pipelines and
provide lasting solutions to these problems.
While condition assessment and
service connection reinstatement remain
challenging, many of the rehabilitation
techniques we use have been tried and
tested over a considerable length of time
and our retrospective evaluations can
underpin service life predictions. New
techniques continue to evolve, along with
our understanding of the pipe-soil interface.
We have high hopes for emerging
structural spray and reinforced linings.
Quality of construction work and safety
of installation crews are very important
facets of our business. In my Hong Kong
presentation I hope to show that our
industry has placed due emphasis on
these aspects, which will extend the
appeal of our skills to a larger audience
of professionals in a marketplace where
Trenchless Technology is an essential
consideration.
FROM the CHAIRMAN's desk
April 2009 - Trenchless International
1