The benefits of trenchless technologies must be considered very broadly in order to understand how to assess the value of using the technologies as it relates to cost. Digging up a road using hammers and drills has cost implications far beyond the equipment used and the man-hours spent.

As Craig Burnie, managing director of Vermeer Equipment Suppliers South Africa, points out in this panel discussion: “When everything is properly understood and properly considered, what seems initially like a more expensive option (trenchless) is actually extremely cost-effective. It shouldn’t even be compared to open trenching from a price perspective.”

From health and safety impacts, future road repair and maintenance, traffic disruptions – which cost in terms of congestion and loss of business – to the environmental impacts, the sum of trenchless technologies’ benefits far outweighs its parts.

More specific technical advantages are further explored in this panel discussion, with Phillip McCallum, from ELB Equipment, examining the intricacies and benefits of pipe bursting (such as eliminating 85 per cent of the excavation required in traditional methods), and Herrenknecht elaborates on their range of tunnelling machines available for utility tunnelling.

Read more here.