Media Briefing Note. Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA) and Crossrail s Skills and Employment Strategy

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1 May 2011 Media Briefing Note Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA) and Crossrail s Skills and Employment Strategy As well as delivering much needed additional rail capacity, Crossrail has an important role to play in supporting regeneration and the economy and creating a skills legacy. Crossrail aims to develop and retain a highly skilled workforce, and establish initiatives to support the UK construction and engineering industries now and in the future. Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA): TUCA is a new, Crossrail-sponsored training facility in east London. Once complete it will offer training to at least 3,500 people in underground construction alone over the lifetime of the project. TUCA is central to both Crossrail s delivery plans and its legacy to the industry and will ensure that there are sufficient numbers of people with the skills to work safely in underground construction to satisfy industry demand. The volume of tunnelling and underground construction work taking place in London alone over the next decade is unprecedented. Aside from Crossrail s 21km of twin-bore tunnel, Thames Water will be constructing the Thames Tideway Tunnel sewerage scheme, National Grid will be constructing new electricity cable tunnels, and the Government is consulting on plans for High Speed 2. For a map showing possible future tunnelling projects in London, see Appendix. Whist the UK has tunnelling expertise and knowledge there is not a purpose-built training facility in the UK to act as a focal point for the industry. TUCA aims to be a centre of excellence for soft-ground tunnelling skills. Currently the nearest tunnelling training centre is Hagerbach in Switzerland, which specialises in hard-rock tunnelling. Construction work started on TUCA last year at Aldersbrook sidings near Ilford Town Centre, on the border of the London Boroughs of Newham and Redbridge. The building work is on time and is due to be completed in June Training will commence at TUCA in summer 2011 and the facility will be fully open by September TUCA was designed by architects Capita Symonds and is being constructed by contractors VolkerFitzpatrick. Crossrail is project-managing the development of TUCA will invest up to 7.5 million. 5 million in funding has been provided by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills via the Skills Funding Agency. Further sponsorship has been pledged by Fujitsu, National Grid, Interocean Personnel Services and New Civil Engineer magazine.

2 Additional plant and equipment sponsorship and inward investment is being sought from Crossrail s contractors and the wider industry. TUCA is a large structure, approximately 100 metres long, 36 metres wide and 12 metres high. It has been designed at this size to permit sufficient safe working space between the different activities and to reflect the scale of underground working conditions. The total size of the Academy extends to 3,600 sq. metres. Facilities will replicate the key areas of a fully-automated tunnelling project. These will include a simulated tunnel boring machine environment, supported by a TBM backup area, with a loco and narrow gauge rail to the rear. There will be a separate chamber for Spray Concrete Lining operations in addition to a large underground construction workshop. TUCA will also have four teaching rooms, a test centre for online safety testing, a large refectory and a Learning Resource Centre. Training programmes delivered at TUCA will respond to industry demand and will be reviewed and developed as needed. Crossrail is in the process of appointing a skills provider to deliver training at TUCA with an appointment expected in late May Once established, TUCA will be managed by a panel of industry experts. This will include representatives from Crossrail, other tunnelling clients, industry bodies and other stakeholders. TUCA students will be made up of people from contractors existing workforces who want to up-skill or formalise their knowledge through nationally accredited technical and safety training as well as new entrants to the industry. Where appropriate, contractors will also fund their apprentices to take the NVQ Level 2 in Tunnel Operations as part of their apprenticeship training. The training offer at TUCA from September 2011 will include: Pre-employment training packages Tunnel Safety Card (mandatory requirement for Crossrail) NVQ 2 Tunnel Operations (mandatory requirement for Crossrail) NVQ 3 Supervisory / Management Confined space Working at heights CPCS loco driver ConstructionSkills Health and Safety Test Confined space rescue Spray concrete applications The duration of courses will vary depending on the needs of the individual programme and delivery styles. Crossrail is working with government-funded agencies such as the Department for Works and Pensions and the Skills Funding Agency to support the delivery of preemployment training opportunities at TUCA. Where applicable, this will fund training

3 opportunities for those not already in education, employment or training and offer new entrants a route into the industry. There is also scope for businesses and individuals to fund their own training. The Academy will also act as the London centre for the National Skills Academy for Railway Engineering (NSARE). Job opportunities for local people: Crossrail requires all contractors in its supply chain to communicate training and employment opportunities. As part of this, Crossrail has formed a partnership with Jobcentre Plus (JCP) which aims to provide local people with opportunities to work on the Crossrail project. Jobcentre Plus works with a network of local job brokerage and outreach agencies to match vacancies to suitable candidates and arrange interviews for short-listed applicants. Contractors are obliged to send all employment opportunities to the job brokerage service 48 hours before they advertise them elsewhere. This gives the team an early opportunity to put forward job-ready candidates from the local area. A wide range of jobs, mainly in construction and engineering, are needed to build Crossrail. These include: plant operators, site foremen, labourers, safety managers, project managers and planners. Local people wishing to register their interest in job opportunities at Crossrail should ask at their local Jobcentre Plus, call the Jobcentre Plus Helpline on or jcpcrossrail@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk Apprenticeships: Crossrail contractors are obliged to provide jobs or apprenticeships to local people and those who have been unemployed for more than six months. Crossrail is committed to delivering at least 400 Apprenticeships through its supply chain over the lifetime of the project this is a high number by industry standards. Crossrail is working in partnership with the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) to recruit suitable candidates and support contractors with the delivery of apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are offered as contracts are awarded and contractors are asked to give priority to those candidates from within the 33 London boroughs. Apprentice numbers are expected to rise in line with the delivery phase as major tunnelling activity gets underway. Apprenticeships will be offered in a variety of subject areas, providing vocational training in construction, craft and office-based roles. Health and Safety: Health and Safety is of critical importance on a project like Crossrail. All those working underground on Crossrail are required to obtain a Tunnel Safety Card (TSC) before being allowed underground. This is a specially developed test which has

4 become an industry wide specialist unit of the nationally recognised Construction Skills Certification Scheme Health and Safety Test. Following a successful pilot programme, TSC training and testing is currently being delivered by Crossrail at its Canary Wharf offices. When TUCA opens it will become the wider industry s first training centre for TSC. Crossrail has introduced a training programme for every lorry driver regularly working on the construction of Crossrail to be trained on how to drive carefully near cyclists. Crossrail is maximising the use of water and rail transport during construction but there will be a need to use lorries throughout Crossrail s construction and the safety of all road users is paramount. The training programme aims to give drivers the skills they need to navigate London s busy roads safely. Over the coming years over 4,000 professional drivers will complete the tailored training course, which has been developed in consultation with cycling and road safety campaign groups and is supported by the freight industry. By the beginning of May 2011, over 900 drivers had attended the Crossrail training course since training commenced in November Young Crossrail inspiring future talent: It is vital both for Crossrail and for industry as a whole that young people continue to choose construction and engineering career paths. Crossrail s education programme, Young Crossrail, aims to engage with young people along the route to raise awareness of the Crossrail programme as a whole; open their eyes to opportunities within construction, engineering and rail infrastructure and communicate the dangers posed by construction sites and busy lorry routes. Young Crossrail works with students aged up to 19 from across the Crossrail route. The dedicated website contains a host of free, curriculumled teaching resources and information for young people. Teachers and other educators can register online to download the teaching resources including films and lesson plans - for free. All resources have been specially developed with consultation from teachers and tailored for Key Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4. Young Crossrail also participates in the STEMNET programme, a network which creates opportunities to inspire young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Young Crossrail STEM Ambassadors are employees from the Crossrail project who volunteer their time to inspire young people. Ambassadors regularly visit schools and colleges, careers fairs, archaeological digs and other events to talk to young people about their own professional experiences. There are currently 36 Young Crossrail STEM Ambassadors, including a number of senior Crossrail staff.

5 Tunnelling for Crossrail: The TBMs will run nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Teams of dedicated construction workers will be working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to complete the tunnels. There will be scheduled breaks to allow maintenance on the TBMs to take place and tunnelling activity will stop for certain public holidays including Christmas Day. Each TBM will be up to 120m in length and weigh around 850 tonnes. The TBMs will have an external diameter of 7.1m. This allows for an inside tunnel diameter of 6m nominal once the concrete tunnel segments are in place. At the front of the TBM is a full face cutter head which rotates at 1 to 3 rpm. As the TBM advances forward the cutter head excavates the ground. To construct the 21km of tunnel required for Crossrail, at least seven tunnel boring machines will be used to undertake the individual tunnel drives to construct the rail tunnels. The tunnel boring machines will weave their way between existing underground lines, sewers, utility tunnels and building foundations from station to station at depths of up to 40 metres. Each TBM will be operated by a tunnel gang comprising of around twenty people - twelve people on the TBM itself and eight people from working from the rear of the machine to above ground. The five sections of tunnel to be constructed are: Royal Oak to Farringdon west (Drive X) - approximately 6.2 km Limmo to Farringdon east (Drive Y) - approximately 8.3 km Stepney Green to Pudding Mill Lane (Drive Z) - approximately 2.7 km Limmo to Victoria Dock Portal (Drive G) - approximately 0.9 km Plumstead to North Woolwich (Drive H) - approximately 2.6 km All of this adds up to 42km of bored tunnels located below the busy streets of London. Tunnel portals will be constructed at Royal Oak, Pudding Mill Lane, North Woolwich, Victoria Dock, and Plumstead. Tunnelling activity will get underway in late In the second quarter of 2012, the first two tunnel boring machines will start out on their journey from Royal Oak towards the west of Farringdon station. This will be followed later in the year by the launch of two further tunnel boring machines in Docklands that will head under central London towards the east of Farringdon. Further shorter tunnel drives will take place in the Royal Docks and east London.

6 About Crossrail: Crossrail will run 118 km from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, through new twin-bore 21 km tunnels under central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. It will bring an additional 1.5 million people within 45 minutes commuting distance of London's key business districts. When Crossrail opens it will increase London's rail-based transport network capacity by 10%, supporting regeneration across the capital, helping to secure London's position as a world leading financial centre, and cutting journey times across the city. Up to 14,000 people will be employed at the peak of construction in 2013/2015. Crossrail will significantly improve the connectivity of London and the South East by reducing journey times (and the need to interchange) to key destinations across London. Appendix: Possible future Tunnelling Projects in London