Barhale acquires Tunneline
Barhale Construction plc has acquired the Tunneline 2000 tunnel refurbishment company, which will become part of its new integrated tunnelling service Barhale Tunnelling Services.
Barhale Tunnelling Services (BTS) combines Barhale’s longstanding tunnelling expertise together with Tunneline’s renovation and refurbishment skills to create a single business unit able to support the company’s internal operations and win business from external clients.
Barhale is one of the UK’s leading civil engineering contractors, with extensive tunnelling capability. It recently embarked upon a strategic drive to win new business beyond its core water industry sector where it currently has framework contract agreements with Thames Water, Severn Trent Water and Anglian Water Service’s @One Alliance.
Peter Marchant, who has been working on major deep level tunnel refurbishment with Thames Water since rejoining Barhale in 2006, will head up the combined BTS business. Graeme Monteith continues to manage the mechanised tunnelling operation with George Slade joining from Tunneline to advise on refurbishment projects
Peter said: “This is an exciting and significant step by Barhale to develop its tunnelling business and we have ambitious growth plans for both sides of the new combined business. The acquisition of Tunneline opens up a host of different options that we can consider when offering solutions to our clients.”
The Tunneline system is a unique concrete lining technique that will recover the structural capacity of brick or masonry tunnels, reducing the cost and disruption found with GRP or GRC alternatives.
Lightweight steel formers are fixed in the host structure to line and level then filled with concrete which is placed under pressure to form a highly compacted lining that bonds to the host structure. The concrete can be reinforced with traditional steel rebar, mesh or fibre as required.
Traditional hydraulic shuttering systems are heavy and cannot be mobilised through small access points and generally are unable to negotiate bends or changes in section. With Tunneline concrete is pumped down existing manholes directly into the formers and takes under two hours each day to complete. This eliminates the need for excavating new shafts and reduces cost and disruption. The Tunneline system can be adjusted to fit tunnels and culverts of many shapes and has successfully lined culverts as small as 700mm and structures as large as twin track rail tunnels.
Peter Marchant said: “We have worked with Tunneline for a number of years, most recently on the relining of the Wraysbury and Queen Mother Reservoir intake tunnels for Thames Water, where the system successfully achieved all of the contract targets ahead of the programmed handover date.
“Acquiring Tunneline has given Barhale a level of expertise in tunnel refurbishment that fits well with our new tunnelling works and creates an extremely useful one stop shop service to the industry.
“Barhale announced a short time ago that it was prepared to make its expertise in constructing new tunnels available to external clients. The addition of the Tunneline capability extends that offer and means we will now provide this level of support to clients who need advice on the refurbishment of existing brick and masonry tunnels or bridges.”
He added: “Barhale was one of the first companies to move into microtunnelling back as far as 1990 when the technique first came to the UK. At that time Barhale had one machine doing a few hundred metres of tunnelling each year, compared with today when nine machines make it one of the largest machine owners in the country.
“The company established its reputation for its tunnelling expertise in those early days of the industry, and microtunnelling is today still an essential part of the company's activity - and is set to feature as a prominent activity in the future too.
For new tunnel construction, Barhale owns and operates six Iseki Unclemole full-face support, slurry tunnelling systems and two Akkerman open-faced ‘drum-digger’ TBMs, along with the slurry separation equipment and other ancillary plant that supports them. It also utilises unique Tangential Separator settlement tank technology.
