REGIONAL REPORT DFI Europe Frank Haehnig President DFI Europe During the first half of 2017, the European (construction) indus- try was in discussion and spec- ulation about the upcoming negotiations between Great Britain and the European Union (EU) regarding the conditions for Brexit. The industry supports a free exchange of people, and insists on an unrestricted choice of work. Neither the EU nor Great Britain will benefit from any restric- tions. In Great Britain, many external experts for future large infrastructure projects will be needed or are already in the country working on or running other projects. New Working Groups DFI Europe has established a BIM/Digitalisation working group, chaired by Asim Gaba of Arup. We have reported on this topic in previous reports, and believe that forming a working group or committee is the right decision, as all new projects contain BIM and digitalisation activities. The tasks, goals and strategy will be discussed and introduced in a future report. Currently, the Excavation Support Fluid Guide is being developed as a logical part and continuation of the Tremie Concrete Guide, which is an ongoing joint effort between DFI Europe and EFFC (The European Federation of Foundation Contractors). The Excavation Support Fluid Guide working group has started its activities and is expected to present some results at the DFI-EFFC International Conference on Piling and Deep Foundations, June 6-8, 2018, in Rome – another perfect reason to attend the conference, in addition to fantastic presentations, site visits and tours (see page 43. At Soilmec’s Industry Days event in May, members from DFI, DFI Europe, and other DFI regional chapters (Middle East and India), along with practitioners from Central America, were invited to present their viewpoints and observations on market developments, innovation, projects, BIM, digitalisation, education and equipment. DFI was represented by John Wolosick, P.E., D.GE, Dr. K.S. Rama Krishna, Dr. Walter Paniagua and me, Frank Haehnig. After their individual presentations, an open session was held for a discussion on the presented topics with excellent feedback from the international audience. New Board Members We would like to welcome our new board members for DFI Europe: • Jorge Capitano-Mor, director of GEO – Ground Engineering Operations, Portugal • Miika Eskelinen, vice president of Junttan Oy, Finland • Pieter Arie Kraaijeveld, managing director of Volker Staal en Funderingen BV, The Netherlands We would especially like to extend a warm welcome to our new secretary, Monika de Vos, who has already done a wonderful job since joining the team at the beginning of the year. She is the deputy head of the geotechnical division of the Belgium Building Research Institute (BBRI, Belgium), and head of Laboratory of Geotechnics and Monitoring at BBRI. She has been with BBRI since 1991 and is involved in the coordination and implementation of Eurocode 7 in Belgium as well as several projects of monitoring of geotechnical structures and instrumented static pile load tests. De Vos is also involved in several national and international committees including ISSMGE-ETC 3, CEN TC 250/SC7, CEN TC 250/SC7/WG03/TG3, CEN TC 341/ISO TC 182 WG04 and ISSMGE (BGGG-GBMS). She graduated as a civil engineer in architecture from KULeuven. At this time, we would like to express a special thank you to Henk de Koning, our outgoing secretary, for his endless support, enthusiasm, engagement and dedication to DFI Europe. We wish him all the best for his retirement. Don’t forget to visit the new DFI Europe website at www.dfi- europe.org. Grand Paris Express, France A mega project of note in Europe is the €22.6bn (US $28.29bn) rapid transit network known as the Grand Paris Express, which is currently under construction to connect the suburbs around Paris and to develop it into a sustainable metropolitan area. In essence, the project involves the construction of four new automatic metro lines around Paris as well as the expansion of two existing lines within the Paris Metro. The goals of the project include providing direct connectivity between suburban districts without having to travel through the city center, linking important transport hubs within the city, having a daily ridership of two million passengers by 2026, and, ultimately, removing approximately 150,000 cars from the roads within Paris. When completed in 2030, the network will be expanded by about 127 mi (205 km) and 57 stations (totalling 72 surface level and underground stations). More information and project details can be found at http://www.railway-technology.com/ projects/grand-paris-express/. Capitano-Mor (l) and Kraaijeveld (Eskelinen not pictured) DEEP FOUNDATIONS • SEPT/OCT 2017 • 53
