World Tunnel Congress 2011 in Helsinki 

The 37th ITA General Assembly and World Tunnel Congress – WTC 2011 in Helsinki attracted all the big names in the international underground construction community. This year, the event enjoyed a record number of participants, with 1405 attendees, and covered a wide range of topics, such as sustainable chemicals, with the main topic being Underground Spaces in the Service of a Sustainable Society. BASF’s MEYCO global business segment and Sandvik exhibited as a joint venture, exploiting the synergies of both companies’ extensive experience and special solutions for tunnel constructions through a key theme of Expanding Horizons/Understanding Underground.  As you can see, both companies offered a first-class service at a single point of contact  (See Movie).  

The WTC dinner hosted by BASF/Sandvik offered another opportunity for active networking. A look back in time through the history of both companies was presented, together with a feature about the hi-tech materials produced by BASF/Sandvik, followed by a speech from Daniel Ruckstuhl of BASF and Thomas Schulz from Sandvik. 

BASF specialists gave several technical presentations to those attending, which can be downloaded using the links below:

	PERMANENT WATERPROOF TUNNEL LINING By Mr Brede Nermoen, Assistant Director, Infrastructure Management, Norwegian National Rail Administration & Mr Karl Gunnar Holter, BASF Construction Chemicals, Switzerland
	PRE-INJECTION AGAINST LARGE WATER LEAKS By Hans-Olav Hognestad, Product Manager BASF MEYCO Global, Switzerland and Kjetil Vikane, Vice President, AF Gruppen Norge AS, Norway
	FIRE PROTECTION IN TUNNELS by Frank Clement, MEYCO Global Underground Construction, Division of BASF Construction