$82 million contract awarded by Yorkshire Water to Miller Civil Engineering and Birse Construction joint venture for 10.5 km tunnel, 3.6 m diameter and some 22 m deep with 10 shafts to connect sewers in west and east Hull passing beneath the river, the marina and the docks. Two new Lovat 4.24 m mixed-face TBMs will bore through alluvial sands, glacial clays and tills, silts, sands and gravels with groundwater pressures of 1.9 to 2.3 bar. Maximum cover 16 m and minimum radius 300 m. Three sections to be bored: 5.5 km, 3.33 km and 1.78 km. Machines powered at 672 kW and can run in open or closed mode. Six-piece 3.6 m i.d. segmental trapezoidal lining in rings of 1 m width. March 1998.   Ten 25 m-deep shafts constructed as jacked wet caissons using Charcon segments. Two identical Lovat mixed face EPBs delivered October, 1998. Bore diameter 4.24 m, maximum thrust 2,400 t with 672 kW cutterhead power through ten variable displacement hydraulic motors. Six-piece Charcon trapezoidal segmental lining in 1.0 m rings of 4.1 m outside diameter and 3.6 m internal diameter. Schoma locomotives and UMD rolling stock. Sept 1999.   Collapse of 15 m-long section of segmental lining occurred 150 m behind one of the TBMs in mid-November without injury or loss of life. January 2000.  Yorkshire Water has decided to recall its Lovat EPB Gloria to complete the final section of its stricken 10.6 km Humber wastewater tunnel at Hull in the north of England. Some 80% of the tunnelling had been successfully completed when a section of the 3.6 m i.d. segmentally-lined tunnel mysteriously collapsed some distance behind the face. Investigations are continuing into the cause of the incident, and there is presently no indication of anything other than a localised situation. The affected area has been stabilised using compressed air, and will be dug out and relined conventionally. A 22 m-deep retrieval shaft will be sunk 50 m ahead of the idle face, and TBM Gloria will drive towards it in an easterly direction from an existing launch shaft. Because the tunnelling was running three months ahead of schedule at the time of the incident, the original project deadline of November, 2000 is not affected. More at www.yorkshirewater.co.uk March 2000.Extensive ground investigation since the collapse has identified a layer of heavy peat at 40 m depth, some 18 m below the tunnel alignment, which may have caused the ground movement that resulted in failure of the non-bolted segmental concrete lining, trapping the TBM. The final 2km of the drive has since been completed by Miller Tunnelling using its second Lovat TBM. Work is proceeding to recover the trapped TBM. Visit www.millerconstruction.co.uk August 2000.