Abidemi Agwor, Executive council member, international tunneling and underground space association, talks about repurposing existing spaces,.
Tunnelling and Underground Space is the development of tunnelling technology, the use of underground space and trenchless technology
Tunnels however, are civil engineering structures that create an underground passage that may pass through a hill, under buildings or roads, under water or even under entire cities.
Check Out The Best Way To Use Tunneling And Underground Spaces [SEE VIDEO]
To create a space in a tunnel a trench is excavated, with ground support as necessary, and the tunnel is constructed in it.
There are a wide range of methods that can used for the design and construction of tunnels, depending on the scale of the tunnel required, the specific ground and groundwater conditions, the depth, the availability of space and so on.
The tunnel may be of precast concrete, precast arches, or corrugated steel arches; in early days brickwork was used. The trench is then carefully back-filled and the surface is reinstated.
In Nigeria tunnels are majorly use for the distribution of oil and gas pipes and telecommunications pipeline but it can actually go as far as,
- Underground Storage
- Underground Farming
- Waste Management
- Utility Distribution
- Water
- Sewage
- oil and Gas
- Farming etc
Check Out The Best Way To Use Tunneling And Underground Spaces [SEE VIDEO]
According to Abidemi Agwor, the biggest problem we have now is urbanization and climate change and Africa is considered as the fastest urbanizing continent in the world.
Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change
“Lagos for example have a population estimated of over 20 million with a foot print that isn’t increasing but the mass of people that is increasing everyday. What do we then do with the urban space we have?
“If carefully looked at, there’s that requirement that we need to think in a different way on how we need to add a lot more value and that means repurposing existing spaces and exploring spaces that haven’t been used before.
“It’s all about value addition, we are increasing the value of a foot print of space by increasing the functionality of the footprint of that space by going deeper.” he added
Abidemi Agwor, added that one of the major benefits of underground spaces is flexibility.
See the video below for more!
