HS2 has revealed the design for the Amersham vent shaft headhouse which is a design for one of 5 structures that will be built to provide ventilation and emergency access to the high-speed rail line’s 16 km (10-mile)-long twin-bore Chiltern tunnel.
Set in the middle of a road junction just outside the town, the circular single-storey building will be surrounded by a spiral shaped weathered steel wall designed to echo the shape of the site and the natural tones of the surrounding landscape. Below ground level, a 18 m deep ventilation shaft will reach down to the twin tunnels below, with fans and other equipment designed to regulate air quality and temperature, remove smoke in the event of a fire and provide access for the emergency services.
The plans have been drawn up by HS2 Ltd’s main works contractor Align JV – a team made up of Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine, and VolkerFitzpatrick - working with its design partners Jacobs and Ingerop-Rendel, architects Grimshaw and landscape designers, LDA Design. For further information please click here.
HS2 TBMs set to leave factory
HS2 has also revealed the chosen names of the first two completed TBMs that will excavate the 16 km (10-mile)-long twin-bore Chiltern tunnel on the first phase of the UK’s new low carbon, high speed railway between London and the West Midlands.
Florence and Cecilia, the names of the 1st and 2nd TBM, were suggested by students at Meadow High School in Hillingdon and The Chalfonts Community College, Buckinghamshire. The name has been inspired by Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing who spent many years living in Claydon, Buckinghamshire and by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, a pioneering astronomer and astrophysicist, who was born in Buckinghamshire.
Florence (40% of the votes) is set to be launched early next year to begin digging the first tube of the tunnel. Cecilia (32% of the votes) will be launched around a month afterwards, digging the second tube. Both 170m long machines are specifically designed for the mix of chalk and flint they will encounter under the Chilterns. They are expected to take around 3 years to excavate the 9.1m diameter tunnels which will be lined with concrete as they go.
Click here for further information, here and uk/65 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.hs2.org.uk/ and https://alignjv.com/. 34/20.
