I learn something new in every single project!
St. Gotthard – 2nd Tube
St. Gotthard tunnel is one of the most important for Switzerland and for the European commercial transit, basically connecting the south of Europe with the North.
In this project, I worked as a Project Engineer for the materials management contract (Lot 111), where I was responsible for analyzing material flows and developing solutions for the temporary as well as final storage of excavated material. This is was a continous task that spanned over the entire life of the project.
I was also responsible for bid analysis for part of the materials management contract (Lot 111). In addition, I participated as a core team member in the tendering process, which lasted over a year, for the main fire-extinguishing water system, including bid evaluation. Through this experience, I gained a solid understanding of how the bidding process works and how to conduct bid analyses to extract valuable insights for final decision-making. This, in turn, helped me develop a deeper understanding of how to prepare effective and well-structured contracts.
Other project infrastructure I was involved in include the emergency and cleaning water retention basin north (Stapelbecken Nord) and the road wastewater treatment plant “Schöni” (Strassenabwasser-Behandlungsanlage “Schöni”).
Weissenstein Tunnel
The Weissenstein railway tunnel connects the small towns of Gänsbrunnen and Oberdorf. It is located a bit north of Bern and despite its small size, it is quite an important tunnel that connects to the northern part of Switzerland.
In this project, I was assigned as the main project engineer for the design and execution phase of the rehabilitation section “G2” (one of the three main rehabilitation sections), whose main concept was a partial renovation of the vault and invert with shotcrete and partial concrete replacements, while using injections for stability during the construction phase.
I was also in charge of managing the development of plans for the execution phase, as well as developing the concept for the water management system in the areas of rehabilitation “G2”.
This assignment gave me great responsibility and an overall opportunity to learn in-depth how to apply my engineering knowledge to find practical solutions. One of the main challenges was the uncertainty stemming from the tunnel’s old age (over 100 years old) and the limited surveys we had on hand.
CR2 – Connecting Tunnel
As part of the course in Tunnelling at University College London, we were assigned a coursework which involved the design of a connecting tunnel from New Southgate to Seven Sisters (going through Alexandra Palace and Turnpike Lane), a proposition which is part of the real-life CR2 Project.
The coursework has been completed in a group of 3 (me, Matthias Lahrote and Michael Taylor), and it involved exact horizontal and vertical alignment, connection to existing stations, placing of the shafts, tunnel and shaft linings design, and estimation of settlement and potential damages to nearby buildings.
Not many information were given, so we had to make a geological study, a study on the building types nearby, listed buildings to avoid, green spaces to utilize in our favour, etc…
Overall I gained a lot of knowledge on the building of tunnels, and appreciated the intense workload that such projects require.
Le Locle Tunnel
Situated in the French part of Switzerland, this project is composed of two tunnels, the smallest helps splitting the traffic that goes to the Jura part of Switzerland and the one that goes to France. The longest crosses the entire Le Locle industrial zone to directly connect the residential area (La-Chaux-de-Fonds) with the border.
In this Project I was assigned to do the initial layout of the material deposits, and the material transportation plan; as well as develop an interactive Toolkit to manage the input and output material – This was intended to be used to study what can be recycled, what can’t, where to store the material, and how much material is expected to be present during construction.
Thanks to this project I was able to learn how to develop a deposit management plan and how to analyse material movements in a project.
San Clemente –
Reitrement House
This project is a Retirement House divided into 4 blocks which can host numerous people and provides a relaxing environment to the elderly.
In this Project I was the main drafter for the overground construction. I was also in charge of insepctions to the reinforcement, construction quality control, meetings, design details control, etc…
Since this project required me to go on the construction site, I was able to grasp how a construction site is managed and what are the considerations that builders make in order to transform a drawing into an actual building.
Brewery Wharf Bridge
This project was a second-year University Project where we were asked to compose a tender documentation for the construction of a bridge (for which we were provided the design). We were then supposed to build the bridge in real-life but that was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The main requirements of the project were to give a schedule, a risk analysis, a construction site management plan and a cost breakdown. I was the Project Manager and in charge of the coordination of the entire week-long project (which involved the management of a team of 20 people), as well as the development of the schedule.
With this project I was able to develop my communication and management skills to deliver the assignment on time and whithin the requirements. The time constraint was a big factor (only one week to finlize an entire tender document) and therefore taught me how to manage time and work under pressure.
