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The Channel Tunnel's Marine Works for Spoil Disposal
Author(s) -
Maddrell R. J.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.1996.tb00069.x
Subject(s) - channel tunnel , channel (broadcasting) , marshalling , engineering , civil engineering , cliff , railway tunnel , telecommunications , archaeology , geography , computer science , programming language
After many trials and about 10 000 years, land access between Britain and the Continent was re‐established in 1991 by the Channel Tunnel link, owned by Eurotunnel and built by a consortium of contractors, Transmanche‐Link. The Channel Tunnel Act allowed Eurotunnel to construct two 8.5 m dia. running tunnels and a 5.4 m service tunnel, with the chalk spoil disposed of as a platform at the toe of Shakespeare cliff. The platform was on the critical path because it was also the main marshalling area for tunnel construction. Spoil disposal was a major logistic and planning issue and required nine consents from various statutory bodies. Environmental issues were important and formed part of the 121 design‐related studies which included site investigations. About 5 million m 3 of spoil were disposed of in five sequentially developed lagoons, all of which had to be closed before the spoil could be placed. The completed platform, now known as Samphire platform, is a nature area with a small area for Eurotunnel's cooling plant.