TUCSS Annual Lecture 2026

Event details

TUCSS Annual Lecture 2026 – Thursday, 15 October 2026

Geotechnical risk sharing with Australia’s pivot from mega infrastructure projects to renewable energy tunnel projects

by Mr. Richard Buckingham, President Australian Tunnelling Society & Technical Director, WSP Australia

ABSTRACT

Australia’s tunnelling industry has been highly active over the past twenty-five years or so, and especially over the past decade, driven largely by major road and rail infrastructure tunnelling projects in the major capital cities on Australia’s eastern seaboard. These projects, together with other underground works such as basement excavations, have generated extensive amounts of ground data that has enabled designers to develop detailed ground and groundwater models and allowed tunnelling risks to be assessed and methods developed with greater confidence, which then benefits the owners who have more certainty over cost and time. As Australia’s tunnelling market pivots from being heavily geared towards major urban infrastructure projects toward renewable energy projects, particularly remote Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (PHES) schemes, there is a strong argument that geotechnical risk allocation should also evolve from its traditional weighting toward the constructor and their designer, who have a far better appreciation of geotechnical risk on an urban infrastructure project. This presentation explores a range of related topics including, how ground investigation programs differ between urban tunnels and remote PHES schemes – the challenges, why those differences materially affect uncertainty and therefore tender risk allowances and what mechanisms may better apportion geotechnical risk for remote renewable energy tunnel projects.

SPEAKER

Richard Buckingham is the National President of the Australian Tunnelling Society (ATS) and a Techincal Director with WSP Australia.

Richard graduated from the Camborne School of Mines in 1995 but then entered the civil tunnelling industry rather than the extractive industry. He has over 30 years of experience in the construction, planning and tendering of large-scale civil engineering projects within Australia and overseas, primarily road and rail tunnelling, also shaft construction, piling, marine reclamation, slope remediation and site investigation. In his work role he provides technical and constructability advice and support to external clients and partners on tunnelling feasibility studies, concept designs, tenders and active projects. He also manages a large team of tunnelling personnel. His hands-on construction experience includes design and construction supervision of underground works for road, rail and utility tunnels, temporary support design assessment, ground investigation and mapping in tunnels, shafts and caverns in hard rock and soft ground, site investigation coordination and interpretation, management of instrumentation & monitoring, workforce supervision and production drilling and ground support installation. He has also worked extensively in the precontracts side of the industry across numerous tunnelling tenders in the Asia-Pacific region and the middle east, which included management of competitive bids, team management, participation in client interactive sessions, development of technical methods and solutions, management and coordination of design consultants and preparation of pricing estimates and submission documents.

Richard has been actively involved in ATS activities since arriving in Australia in 2005, initially as a member of the Victorian state chapter, then chairing the Victorian committee before becoming National Vice President and ultimately National President three years ago. In his role as National President of the ATS, Richard represents Australia at the international level through attended the General Assembly of the WTC. He is also a member of ITA (International Tunnelling Association) Working Group 3 – Contractual Practices, Procurement and Delivery.

TIME AND PLACE

The Annual Lecture will take place at LTA Auditorium at 1 Hampshire Road Singapore 219428 on Thursday, 15 October 2025 at 18:30hours. The presentation will be approximately 50 mins long with 10 mins of questions/discussion afterwards.

PROGRAMME

6.00pm                        Registration & Refreshment

6.30pm                        TUCSS Annual Lecture 2026

7.30pm                        Refreshments and Networking

8.00pm                        End

INVITATION

TUCSS Annual Lecture 2026 is open to current TUCSS Members only. 

REGISTRATION

Registration for the Annual Lecture is open to valid TUCSS Members only. Seats are on first-come-first-served basis and limited to 200 persons for physical and 500 for virtual. Registration will be based on first-come-first served basis. The deadline for registration is on Monday, 5 October 2026 or when total registered participants reach 200 for physical whichever comes earlier.

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Please note that we will only issue the Certificate of Attendance to TUCSS Member who qualified the policy below:

• Valid TUCSS Member
• Register attendance at the registration counter for physical participant
• Join the seminar using registered email only for virtual participant
• Login at the beginning of the seminar (link will be assessable at 18:15 hours) for virtual participant
• Evidence of participation by video switched on throughout the seminar for virtual participant
• Complete the quiz at the end of the seminar before the seminar end. The duration for the quiz is 15mins

Certificate of Attendance will be uploaded to the TUCSS member's account after the compliance to the Attendance Policy is verified.

We look forward to seeing you!

Speaker

Richard Buckingham

WSP Australia