Ayesa head of ground engineering and tunnelling Cláudio Cabral Dias warns that while subsurface 3D mapping is increasingly vital for successful projects, changing how industry works requires companies to plan for retraining their people.
Cláudio Cabral Dias, head of ground engineering and tunnelling at Ayesa
Spanish firm Ayesa worked on the ramps and shafts for the successful Silvertown tunnel project in London in the UK and is now delivering Porto Metro in Portugal. That project will see four lines added to the network, alleviating congestion hotspots and connecting previously unconnected parts of the city.
Both projects featured complicated ground conditions. London is naturally associated with London Clay, but the Silvertown site involved several types of geology, along with three different aquifers, local docks infrastructure and extensive groundwater flood risk. Porto Metro faces a mix of granite, pockets of water-logged clay and centuries-old foundations for buildings within the city.
For those involved in large tunnelling projects, such complexity is now normal, as is the diversity of teams working on projects – often spanning many countries.
We need to use better tools and software for the repetitive work while engineers do the smart and creative work
“At present there are a lot of infrastructure projects, and they are getting bigger and bigger – so obviously you need large teams to deliver them, and it is hard to get enough people with the right skills,” explains Dias. “So teams work across borders and from many different locations, which means everyone needs to be able to access information as they collaborate.
“We don’t have enough engineers in the world, which can impact things like the sustainability challenge and reducing carbon. A lot of the time we can’t do as much as we’d like as an industry, because there aren’t enough resources. We can’t always do as much analysis as we would like to do, or run as many scenarios as needed to truly optimise a project.”
This is something that Dias believes can be fixed, however, as the professions undergo a “disruptive moment” thanks to new and emerging technologies.
Technological solutions
“A lot of the work engineers do is quite repetitive and time-consuming – such as retrieving past information from past projects. This is not a great use of our time – so rather than only trying to find more people to do the work, we need to use better tools and software for the repetitive work while engineers do the smart and creative work,” says Dias.
Ana Marina Sanchez, geotechnical engineer at Ayesa
Perhaps ironically, it was hiring someone new that brought this to the forefront at Ayesa. Geotechnical engineer Ana Marina Sanchez came from a mining company where subterranean 3D models are widely used to maximise output from operations.
“This is common in mining because you have a lot of data with a lot of boreholes and you can use technology easily with mineral testing to find the ore,” says Sanchez. “But it’s less common in transport projects and I thought it could be interesting for underground works. Using Plaxis, we can do 3D models and have the ability to export from this – providing really fluent information with all the work and calculations.”
Sanchez believes this impacts productivity across projects. “It’s not only about the number of people, but it’s about preparing people to do more of what is most needed. Engineers 10 years ago who could use [geotechnical finite element analysis software] Plaxis were rare – but now the knowledge is growing, which is a good sign.”
This impacts not only ground engineering and testing, but the project as a whole, as information becomes easier to access and comprehend, according to Dias.
“Decisions are both better and easier. It’s hard to quantify the speed of decision-making, but on a daily basis we see better quality information which gives more certainty and reduced risks to the project – including a lower risk of clashing with other disciplines. So, you get better decisions because they are better informed ones.”
That is partly about communication, and Sanchez notes how much easier that becomes when you’ve got a model to talk through. “If we are showing the client a Leapfrog model – we are able to discuss it better because you are showing them something more tangible.”
That said, the team at Ayesa recognises that the technology is only as good as the inputs it works with. Classically with software, people think about that in terms of data – but it is also a matter of talent.
“On data, if you put garbage in, you get garbage out,” says Dias. “Tricky geology needs good surveying, lab tests and geophysics. But it also needs people to know how to use it.”
A 3D Model in Leapfrog Works of the Dragão-Souto Porto Metro Line
This means training, and Ayesa has taken the view that this not only takes time, but that time is part of the change process.
“I now deliver training in Plaxis and other software like OpenTunnel to add to Leapfrog. So, we knew these were in the market but we needed a team of the right people with the right focus, and we work to help create that.
“You need a clear medium-term plan,” says Dias. “You have to train people and invest in software, which has a cost. What we learned from adoption and transition, which is still underway, is that the best way is to involve the team in the whole process.
“Some people can be resistant to change, so what also works for us is not changing everything in one go. We set goals every couple of months – in 2024 we introduced Leapfrog, then in 2025 OpenTunnel, and we did it with bigger projects where it’s easier to justify these changes.
“We cannot change everything in one go – we need to have the right people to implement and to connect with old workflows until the time comes to change them if necessary. And that reduces resistance because teams can see advantages verified over time.”
If you’re capable of delivering big infrastructure, you are capable of changing your workflow
Two years in, that process is still underway at Ayesa, but it is becoming somewhat organic as people using old practices start to ask for support through new technologies.
Sanchez explains: “At first there were people unsure about making the change, they were comfortable doing what they had always done because it had worked for them before. But we are now seeing those people asking for things from the new software, maybe for a little task, such as ‘Can you get me a 3D model of this interface?’ when they’re designing something. So we know they are starting to understand that these tools provide opportunities for them, which shows that we can bring people along by showing how it works.”
Dias and Sanchez both agree that this really comes down to trusting their people and trusting the value of the technology.
“People want to do good work,” says Dias. “So, when people spend time with the software and the software turns out to be user friendly but also powerful, they want to learn more about it. And it can take time for people to learn more, but that is okay because we want to extract all the value it offers.”
Sanchez notes that this matters in part because of the scale of new thinking involved. “You have to accept that if someone is used to excel and paper – new software is a big change for them.”
Not that she believes that should be an excuse for delaying or avoiding innovation. “Our industry needs to take a step forward. If you’re capable of delivering big infrastructure, you are capable of changing your workflow, and the world needs that.”
Dias agrees. “I think taking the risk of changing your workflows and your processes is worth it. We have so many challenges where the greater risk would be to continue with the old ways of working and wasting time on repetitive tasks. So, embrace the challenge and embrace the change.”
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