Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction, Huesker, Epsimon, Jacobs, Align JV and HS2

This award recognises a hi-tech advancement or concept that has helped a company improve its performance or delivery of a specific challenging element of a project, between January 2022 and January 2023. This category is not aimed at projects that have achieved overall excellence – such projects should be entered into one of the six project categories. The entrant may have achieved technical excellence through producing a new approach to analysis or design, advanced techniques or procedures during design or delivery and/or working with its customers to improve delivery of a specific part of a project through technical refinement. An entry should be for a single technical advance or development applied to a specific part of a project. Developments applied to a number of projects may be better placed in the Digital Innovation or Equipment Innovation categories. The geotechnical work on the project presented must be completed at the time of the submission.

Real-time monitoring of sub-surface ground movement using a distributed fibre optic-instrumented geogrid

Sensorgrid is an innovative and world-first ground reinforcement geogrid with integrated distributed fibre optic sensing cables that can be used to detect and localise sub-surface ground movement at an early stage. It was developed and tested by the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) at Cambridge University, Huesker and Epsimon Ltd before being deployed on a 1000m2 area along the HS2 Phase One mainline at Tilehouse Lane Cutting (TLC) being constructed by Align JV, in collaboration with Jacobs. The site is characterised by the presence of many dissolution features, and Sensorgrid is being used as part of a cost-effective mitigation strategy against the risk that these sub-surface features present. The real-time data obtained through continuous, automated monitoring of the Sensorgrid enables the project team to observe any movement that could occur below the current construction haul road at TLC, and on which the HS2 mainline will ultimately be constructed.