Electricity cables underground for housing and food forest

The Dutch ministry of Infrastructure and Environment has been working on increasing housing development in large outer city areas for several decades now. One of these areas is Leidsche Rijn in the city of Utrecht, which has been in constant development since 1995. To enable the construction of a new residential area with an associated food forest and the extension of an adjacent business park, Brownline surveyed two drills of 1075 meters in length in April 2021.

Power lines from aboveground high voltage pylons are being moved underground at an increasing rate. This happens for a variety of reasons, but one of the most common reasons is to create space in the immediate vicinity. On the southeastern edge of Leidsche Rijn, an area has been designated where a new neighborhood will be built, but an existing business park in the same area will also be expanded. What makes this new neighborhood so unique is the addition of a food forest. In this way, the residents are involved in the interpretation and design of their own environment. In order to have sufficient space for these plans, the existing 150 kV high-voltage aboveground connection will be partially placed underground. Four pylons will disappear, creating room for people and their local environment.

The trajectory of this double drill of 1075 meters in length was plotted at a depth of 24 meters and ran close to the aforementioned business park, a small lake and a riding stable. In addition, an existing bus lane had to be crossed, and there were already several underground pipes in the immediate vicinity of the trajectory. Working with the highest precision and the least possible nuisance to the environment were of the utmost importance in this drill job. By combining the Drillguide Gyro Steering Tool with the GPS Track, the drill was executed with extreme accuracy and with minimal impact on the environment. The building plans and the construction of the unique food forest can be carried out according to the project’s schedule.

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