TUCA

going underground

Crossrail is in the process of constructing 42 kilometres of tunnels under central London. Building tunnels can be a dangerous business and it is vital therefore that all our employees who work underground are properly trained.

There is a great demand for skilled construction workers for Crossrail and for a number of other large building projects over the next ten years. Currently there are nowhere near enough workers trained to operate underground. As a result Crossrail has built a specialist Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA) to support the industry.

TUCA, which opened in Autumn 2011, is based at Aldersbrook Sidings, on the border between the London Boroughs of Newham and Redbridge. The TUCA building houses a range of specialist training facilities including: an environment with a simulated tunnel boring machine and a sprayed concrete lining chamber. 

TUCA provides an opportunity for its learners to get a better understanding of what an underground working environment looks like. Most important of all students are given a thorough grounding in all the safety hazards they need to be aware of when working underground.

If you like the sound of TUCA, you can obtain further information from www.tuca.ac.uk