🏆 The Winners of the ITA Tunnelling Awards 2026!

ITA is proud to announce the winners of the 2026 Tunnelling Awards, celebrating excellence and innovation in the tunnelling and underground space industry.

Congratulations to all this year's Gold, Silver and Bronze medal recipients!

🥇 THE 2026 WINNERS:

1. Major Project of the Year – over EUR 500 million

• 🥇 Gold: GTX-A Metropolitan Express Railway Deep Tunnel Project between Unjeong–Samsung Station – South Korea
• 🥈 Silver: Beijing East Sixth Ring Road Tunnel – China
• 🥉 Bronze: HS2 MWCC C1 Chiltern Tunnels and Shafts – United Kingdom

2. Project of the Year – EUR 100–500 million

• 🥇 Gold: Relocation of Sha Tin Sewage Treatment Works to Caverns – Main Caverns Construction – Hong Kong, China
• 🥈 Silver: Inter-Terminal Bored Tunnels (ITBT) – Changi Airport – Singapore
• 🥉 Bronze: Monsanto-Santa Apolónia Tunnel – Lisbon Drainage Master Plan – Portugal

3. Project of the Year – up to EUR 100 million

• 🥇 Gold: Ollachea Tunnel – Peru
• 🥈 Silver: Novaliches–Balara Aqueduct 4 (NBAQ4) – Philippines
• 🥉 Bronze: Lisbon Metro Circular Line Extension – Lot 2 (Santos–Cais do Sodré) – Portugal

4. Rehabilitation, Upgrading and Re-purposing Projects

• 🥇 Gold: Howard Street Tunnel – United States
• 🥈 Silver: The Beverentunnel Renovation – Belgium
• 🥉 Bronze: Total Renovation of the Kennedy Railway Tunnel in Antwerp – Belgium

5. Technical Innovation of the Year

• 🥇 Gold: Automated Primary Supports for Tunnelling Under Tectonic Stresses and Severe Squeezing – Italy
• 🥈 Silver: A World-First TBM-Excavated Spiral Ramp in Hard Granite for Radioactive Waste Disposal – China
• 🥉 Bronze: Complete Equipment and Construction Technology for Vertical Excavation of Ultra-Large-Diameter Prefabricated Shafts – China

6. Product / Equipment Innovation of the Year

• 🥇 Gold: TBM Integrated Sensing Equipment – China
• 🥈 Silver: Use of Precast Lining and Automated Lining Erector Machine in Mined Tunnels – Australia
• 🥉 Bronze: The Cube System – an Ultra Low Headroom Diaphragm Wall Machine – Belgium

7. Elevated Thinking: Underground – Shaping the Future

• 🥇 Gold: Elevating Energy Viability: Sustainable LPG Storage in Engineered Rock Caverns – India
• 🥈 Silver: HIPOGEO Santiago Bernabéu Stadium – Spain
• 🥉 Bronze: Planning and Construction of the "#" Shaped Underground Road System in Shanghai CBD Core Area – China

8. Young Tunneller of the Year

• 🥇 Gold: Gabriel Lehmann– Germany
• 🥈 Silver: Wojciech Mleczko – Poland
• 🥉 Bronze: Xu Chen – China

🌟 ITA Lifetime Achievement Award

• Martin Knights

Watch the video celebrating Martin Knights and his Lifetime Achievement Award:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOjOGQS6kYA

🌟ITA Fellows Recognition:

• Werner Burger
• Michel Deffayet
• Henry A. Russell
• Hehua Zhu

👏 Congratulations to all the winners and finalists! Your outstanding achievements demonstrate the expertise, creativity and collaborative spirit driving our industry forward.

🌟 ITA Tunnelling Awards 2027

Watch the announcement of Poland as the host of the ITA Tunnelling Awards 2027 here: