Renovation of Heinenoord Tunnel wins International Tunnelling Award
Copyright Rijkswaterstaat
At the tenth edition of the ITA Tunnelling Awards – held on 28 November in Genoa, Italy – the renovation of the Heinenoord Tunnel won the second prize for the renovation project of the year. Besides the tunnel on the A29, the Genoa Railway Junction and the Manfreida Tunnel in Italy were also nominated in the category Renovation Project of the Year. In total, more than 100 submissions from 29 countries were competing in 7 categories for these most important international awards in the field of tunnels.
ITA Award
The ITA is an international organisation whose mission is to promote sustainability and innovation in tunnelling. To this end, each year they hold the ITA Tunnelling Awards. The renovation of the Heinenoord Tunnel won the second prize in the category ‘Renovation Project of the Year 2024’. The submissions were judged on innovations in design and construction, safety during execution, measures taken to minimise the impact on the local area and sustainable solutions employed to save costs.
Renovation of the Heinenoord Tunnel
The renovation was prepared and executed in partnership with Rijkswaterstaat, TEC and the contracting consortium Savera III (a joint venture between Dura Vermeer, SWARCO and SPIE).
Irene Schnieders, project manager at Rijkswaterstaat: ‘I’m enormously proud of this award. It is a token of recognition for the whole team. After years of preparation, we successfully completed this massive job in the space of two years. Working on existing infrastructure is complex and calls for smart planning, smart construction and smart travel. By working during low-traffic periods as far as possible, by retaining the old installations for as long as possible and by taking accessibility and mobility measures, we succeeded in executing the renovation with the lowest possible impact on local residents and businesses.'
Geert Quicken, project director Savera III: ‘We knew that the execution would be complex. Following the award of the contract, we took the time with Rijkswaterstaat to prepare the execution thoroughly, identify the risks and make agreements about how to control them. We sometimes had to adjust our plans as we went along because of unforeseen issues. ‘Practising’ outside the tunnel with a 1-to-1 scale model of the segment joins and the central tunnel channel proved to be a stroke of genius. It meant we knew the most efficient way to perform the work in the tunnel and we were able to make maximum use of the closures. And constructing a central tunnel channel inside an existing tunnel in two weeks’ time was a unique achievement, a fact recognised by the jury.’
Frederik Wagenaar, technical manager of TEC; ‘As engineering firms, we were primarily involved in the contract preparations and design of this far-reaching renovation. Together with Rijkswaterstaat, we ‘translated’ the wishes and requirements of the internal and external stakeholders into smart requirements and specifications for the execution.’
After this renovation, the tunnel complies with the latest legislation and safety requirements. The tunnel is now fit for purpose for decades ahead and is climate-proof. Thanks to all the new installations and systems, the tunnel uses less energy. The energy to operate the tunnel comes from the wind farm on the Maasvlakte.
The Heinenoord Tunnel on the A29 was the first of 8 tunnels in Zuid-Holland that need to be renovated.
