11th Annual

Basements & Underground Structures

Optimising technical innovation, design & delivery
Wednesday 3rd October, Victoria Park Plaza, London

07.45 Breakfast briefing: Leveraging the benefits of geotechnical software and modelling
Better use of digital data has the potential to improve productivity, reduce risk and enhance collaboration in geotechnics, but are we using this
information effectively?
• Improving methods for the transfer of data
• Overcoming the obstacles for effective knowledge sharing
• Why do the (small) size of datasets in geotechnics present a problem?

08.15 Registration & refreshments

09.00 Opening remarks from the chair

09.10 Keynote: Innovation in underground structures

• Driving better design of basements and underground spaces
• Inner city projects – how can we maximise the space available?
• Top tips for better delivery: on time, on cost, on point
Peter Scott, Head of Ground Engineering, Buro Happold
09.40 Mega Project Update: Thames Tideway
25km long, up to 66m deep and more than 7m in diameter, the Thames Tideway tunnel is the biggest infrastructure project ever undertaken by the
UK water industry. This session will address key issues including:
• What efforts have been made to ensure sustainability?
• How cost effective are the methods of construction?
• Innovative engineering in the design phase to reduce the tunnel size and the number of construction sites

10.10 Panel: Basement temporary works

• Exploring the latest technologies and design principles to optimise temporary works
• Designing and building temporary works within the constraints of site traffic, existing (adjacent) structures and available space
• Promoting leaner temporary works solutions
Panellists:

10.55 Morning break for refreshments & networking

Module 1: Basement Construction Best Practice Module 2: Digital Engineering

Chair: Chair:

11.25 Structural waterproofing: innovation and design
• External vs. internal waterproofing systems
• Designing a system that allows remedial action in case
of problems without too much disruption
• Basement performance levels and vapour control
• Evaluating product types – cementitious coatings,
multi-coat renders, cavity drain membranes…
The digital future of engineering
• Utilising the latest technology to design winning bids
• Using digital engineering to deliver projects more quickly, safely
and effectively
• BIM models for 4D and 5D planning for project planning times
and costs

11.55 Top-down construction – Why it’s the new normal…
Top-down offers significant gains over traditional building
programmes for projects with deep basements. This session will
consider how top-down offers benefits in terms of improved
access and logistics and examine specific projects where this
Managing, handling and optimising the utility of geotechnical data
• Assessing the growing role of data management in digital
engineering and BIM
• Examples of best practice from ground investigation specialists,
designers and constructors
 approach delivered real commercial value. And when is top-
down not appropriate?
12.25 Project Showcase: Sirius Minerals on the North Yorkshire
Moors: The York Potash Project
12.55 Lunch
Module 3: Commercial Insights into Underground Structures
Chair:
14.00 Oversight development considerations on the Northern Line
Extension
• What is it and why do you need to be aware of it?
• Capitalising on the opportunity
14.30 Procurement and the supply chain
• Contractor engagement
• Collaborative infrastructure procurement
• Digital procurement
• Pricing dynamics and supply chain risks
15.00 Project Focus: Value engineering the foundation solution at a
Heathrow T4 hotel
• Collaborative working practices
• Future distruptors and anticipating how they will impact the
industry
Project Showcase: The value of BIM level 2 to project X
• Impact on cost, programme, timescales and quality
• Communication and collaboration
• Mitigation of health, safety and environmental risk
• Rapid solution testing
• Maximising asset operation and value over its entire lifecycle
Module 4: Training & Talent
Chair:
Attracting and retaining talent
• Increasing gender diversity
• Marketing the job to women!
What does a forward-thinking training strategy look like?
• Identifying what your new graduate doesn’t understand about
basements, tunnels or underground structures
• Exposing young talent to the full range of geotechnical practices
• Handing ownership of new technologies to your youngest
recruits
Case study: Embedding a successful apprenticeship programme
 • Piling vs. raft
• Ground movement and heave of London clay – what do
we need to know?
• Leveraging the benefits of instigating design risk
management at pre-construction stage
Mouwafak Kassir, CEO, City Basements & Client speaker,
to be confirmed
• What makes a good apprenticeship programme? How should
you market it, and who to?
• What can you expect to gain from an apprenticeship scheme?
Short - medium – long term?
• Perspectives from an apprentice – what was good, what wasn’t?

15.30 Afternoon break for refreshments & networking

16.00 Mega Project: The Claridge’s basement

Hand excavation was key to delivering this most ambitious of basement projects, with a programme based on mining technique-based schemes.
Arup used numerical modelling and analysis to make it happen. ‘This is a first as far as I’m aware – I don’t believe anyone has built a basement
below a live hotel, let alone one of this size. The investigation was needed to prove that the solution could work, and the exercise took almost give
months’
Dinesh Patel, Director, Geotechnics & Infrastructure, Arup

16.30 Mega Project: ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai

The project had to be abandoned due to lack of finance after the crash of 2008, so the contractor – Coffey – inherited a half-built basement. But
the new project had a different remit in terms of the depth of the basement and the position of the tower so an innovative strategy had to be
designed to efficiently remove significant amounts of concrete and, where possible, reuse it.
Andrew Smith, Technical Director, Coffey

17.00 Closing remarks from the chair

17.10 End of conference programme

17.15 Drinks Reception

18.30 Roundtable (sponsor led session)