UK-based tunnelling technology disruptor hyperTunnel has entered administration. A note on the company's website read: "hyperTunnel Limited and hyperTunnel Holdings Limited ("the Companies") were placed into Administration on 23 July 2024, with Paul Michael Davis and Timothy John Edward Dolder appointed as Joint Administrators of both companies.
"The affairs, business and property of the Companies are being managed by the Joint Administrators, who act as agents of the Companies and without personal liability.
"Paul Michael Davis is licensed to act as an Insolvency Practitioner in the UK by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and Timothy John Edward Dolder is licensed to act as an Insolvency Practitioner in the UK by the Insolvency Practitioners Association. They are bound by the Insolvency Code of Ethics when carrying out all professional work relating to an insolvency appointment."
hyperTunnel had developed a completely new automated construction method that was designed to build tunnels more than 10 times faster and at half the cost of conventional methods. It used swarm construction methods according to a digital twin of the tunnel, whereby a fleet of ‘hyperBot' robots would enter the ground via an arch of HDPE pipes. Once inside, the robots would 3D-print the tunnel shell by deploying construction material directly into the ground.
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The technology was claimed to be very environmentally friendly as it used sustainable materials such as low-carbon concrete and was safer as workers did not need to enter the structure during construction.
The company received significant funding and high-profile backing. In 2022, GDI reported that the European Innovation Council (EIC), Europe's flagship innovation programme to identify, develop and scale up breakthrough technologies and game-changing innovations, had selected hyperTunnel to receive funding of €1.88 million (US$1.96 million) under its EIC Accelerator scheme.
This funding was in addition to a financial investment from VINCI, which hyperTunnel said it would use for business expansion and to further develop and test its revolutionary construction method in practical situations.
In the same year, a 6m long, 2m high and 2m wide Peak XV ‘pedestrian-scale' tunnel created with hyperTunnel's technology as part of a project for Network Rail was revealed at the British Tunnelling Society Conference & Exhibition in London.
