The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Onnalee Cubitt, last week visited a local business that is transforming the way tunnels are built and maintained.
Headquartered at Basing View, hyperTunnel was recently named as one of the top 50 construction-technology startups in the world. It has developed a high-tech system that uses swarms of robots to make underground construction much cheaper, safer and more sustainable. Since launching in 2018, it has already grown to employ 44 people, with further expansion anticipated.
Councillor Cubitt was accompanied on her visit by Janet Edwards and Teju Akande of the Department of International Trade, and her consort and husband, Hugo Cubitt. Together they toured hyperTunnel’s town-centre offices, advanced engineering lab and outdoor testing facility in the North Hampshire Downs, meeting the company’s founders and the experts developing its cutting-edge technology.
“It was absolutely fascinating to hear about the ground-breaking engineering concept hyperTunnel is developing, which will have lots of different applications, and to meet some of the brains behind it all,” the Mayor remarked. “The fact that such an ambitious, high-tech organisation with such big dreams has chosen to base itself in Basingstoke speaks volumes about what the town has to offer modern businesses.”
hyperTunnel is chaired by former Chief Executive of Network Rail Mark Carne CBE and employs leading experts in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, automation and construction. The hyperTunnel method uses a unique combination of technologies to overcome the huge challenges associated with underground construction that make current tunnelling methods extremely costly and slow. The team has already developed working prototypes and is currently working on turning them into operational products.
Image – Left to right: the Mayor’s Consort, Hugo Cubitt; Mayor, Onnalee Cubitt; hyperTunnel co-founder, Steve Jordan; Janet Edwards and Teju Akande of the Department of International Trade.
Image – hyperTunnel’s Head of Design, Dylan Phillips, shows The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Onnalee Cubitt, one of the robots that 3D-prints tunnels into the ground with the radical hyperTunnel construction method. L-R: hyperTunnel engineer Mary-Jane Ochibe, hyperTunnel’s Head of Design, Dylan Phillips, hyperTunnel co-founder, Steve Jordan, The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Onnalee Cubitt. L-R: hyperTunnel engineer Mary-Jane Ochibe, hyperTunnel’s Head of Design, Dylan Phillips, hyperTunnel co-founder, Steve Jordan, The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Onnalee Cubitt.
About hyperTunnel
hyperTunnel is a deep tech scale-up that is developing a revolutionary methodology for tunnels and underground schemes, designed to be substantially faster, safer, more economical and environmentally-friendly than current techniques. hyperTunnel’s goal is to dramatically reduce the cost of tunnels, allowing global demand for increased, yet more sustainable transportation solutions, to be met.
hyperTunnel uses a unique combination of proven technologies from diverse industries – including digital twins, robotics, 3D printing and digital underground surveying, supported by AI and VR – to redefine what is possible in tunnel construction, enlargement, monitoring and repair.
Founded in 2018 by businessmen Steve Jordan and Jeremy Hammond, hyperTunnel employs 28 people located at its Basingstoke (UK) headquarters, and outdoor learning environment (the hOLE) and Geolab in the North Hampshire Downs. hyperTunnel’s patented methodologies and its range of products and technologies, many of which have patents pending, are available via licence, leasing, consultancy and project support.
www.hyperTunnel.co.uk / https://www.linkedin.com/company/hypertunnel-limited/