Pre-cast concrete firm Pacadar has won a deal to produce 58,000 factory-built concrete tunnel segments for use in HS2’s London tunnels.
The segments will cover almost 10 miles of tunnel and will be used in the first tunnel boring machine drives when they launch in early 2022.
Pacadar UK signed a deal with the Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture (SCS JV), which is delivering the London tunnels for HS2.
The deal, which is the largest for Pacadar UK to date, follows its Isle of Grain factory’s supply of 7.5 miles of tunnel segments for Thames Tideway.
Production will begin in January next year at the factory and the materials will then be delivered to HS2’s TBM launch site in West Ruislip by rail, where the construction of the twin-bored, five mile, Northolt Tunnel West will begin.
More than 160,000m3 of concrete will be used to make the segments which form a 9.5m outside diameter tunnel 0.35m thick. Each complete ring is made of seven segments and a key. Each segment weighs approximately seven tonnes.
James Richardson, managing director of SCS JV, said: “This is an important milestone in the programme as we get closer to launching our first two tunnel boring machines next year. We’re building 26 miles of twin-bore tunnels, covering the 13-mile distance between West Ruislip and Euston, tunnelling up to 50 metres below ground. Using rail to deliver all our segments required for our tunnelling programme will help us to remove one million lorry journeys from the road over the lifecycle of our programme.”
David Pastor, commercial director of Pacadar UK, said: “The total length of the twin-bored tunnel is 10 miles which will require a volume of concrete of 160.000m3. The supply will be made by rail covering a short distance and reducing, therefore, the carbon footprint of the project.”
