With the International Tunnelling Association’s (ITA) World Tunnel Congress and General Assembly this May, also comes the election of a new President. The atmospheric city of Prague will host the great and the good of the international tunnelling community, as they come together in conclave and welcome a new individual as the designate leader of our profession.

T&TI: What makes you want to ‘run’ for the next ITA President? 

MK: I think it is a mixture of good experience, commitment to the development of our profession and the encouragement and support of many friends and colleagues.

I will have seven years experience of the management of ITA affairs by May 2007, and over ten years of membership of my National Committee. Since 2000 I’ve been UK National representative to the ITA and an ITA Vice President since 2004. I have also led a number of ITA Task Forces including the current Strategy focus. So it is fair to say I understand the ITA, its operations, but much more importantly it’s potential as well.

My decision to run was also greatly encouraged by the support of not only the British Tunnelling Society but also my company Jacobs Engineering and most importantly my family.

T&TI:  What would you like to see ITA do for its members?

MK: The ITA’s core activity is to ensure that knowledge, opinions and best practice are shared within and outside of the Association to the betterment of our industry. To do this I believe the ITA must be influential, relevant, effective and responsive to the needs of its membership and those who need to be aware of and share in the ITA’s activities.

T&TI: So the key issue is making the ITA more responsive to the changing needs of its membership?                   

MK: Yes, absolutely. All international businesses and institutions such as ITA need to adapt to meet requirements of employees, shareholders and members. Since 2000, ITA has recognised the need for change to meet the requirements of individual and corporate members. It has done this through the pro-active efforts of the Excom and the Secretariate. I believe the challenge in the next 3 years is for the ITA to manage further changes including that of the evolving new Secretariate organisation, which will be presented to the ITA Assembly in May 2007.

T&TI: These are important internal issues. But how would you get ITA to raise the profile of our industry?

MK: I believe at all times the ITA should demonstrate to our industry, clients, government, financial and educational institutions the value and relevance of promoting the best practice in tunnelling and the use of underground space.

ITA must encourage and enhance the value of activities undertaken by National and Working Groups and to ensure the continuity of efforts in the 12 months between the annual WTCs. The efforts of the Working Groups should be given prominence at the annual WTCs and the ITA Web site.

This is particularly important for recruitment. In an ever-competitive world our industry faces a shortage of qualified management, technical professionals and skilled practitioners. We must seek to balance the interests of current members and experienced people with encouraging younger membership and participation as well.

And as an industry body we need to learn from recent past publicity of tunnel failures during construction. These incidents have focussed the need to work with the industry to ensure the highest possible standards of engineering are maintained and ITA should be prominent in facilitating, communicating and promoting these standards.

T&TI: Are you optimistic about the future of international tunnelling?                          

MK: Yes l am. Transport, Public Health and the Environment will all be future growth areas because of the momentum of the current international agenda of energy efficiency, improved communications in and between cities, and the need to ensure sustainable infrastructure for the future. Tunnelling is an essential ‘tool’ to implement schemes that will preserve and improve our lives.

I joined the tunnelling world back in 1970, and have been associated with projects such as the 2nd Mersey Road Tunnel, Drakensburg Pumped Storage Scheme, CERN Switzerland, New York Metro and the network of Cable Tunnels in London. There always has, is, and increasingly will be, a need for our skills. I believe the challenge, however, is to meet this demand, to be more pro-active in articulating the benefits of our work to the public and to decision makers.

This is a challenge for us as an industry, for us as individual professionals, and importantly for us collectively as the ITA. As a candidate for the ITA Presidency I would love the opportunity to help us all meet this challenge.