Building for life, building for connection

In 2013, Dragages Hong Kong and Bouygues Travaux Publics won the largest design-build contract ever awarded in Hong Kong for the construction of a 5-kilometre twin-tube undersea road tunnel to link the new northern territories to the artificial island of Hong Kong-Zhuhai Macao Bridge Hong Kong Port, providing faster access to the international airport.

This pioneering operation pushed back the limits of underwater construction.  With excavation zones as deep as 50 metres under the sea, maintenance operations were carried out in a hyperbaric environment by teams of specialists living on the surface in pressurised habitats. This exploit was a record for Bouygues Travaux Publics, testifying to the technical expertise and ingenuity deployed in the construction of this exceptional infrastructure. The project demanded an innovative and ambitious approach from the outset. Two artificial islands were specially built to accommodate the start and finish of the tunnel boring machine (TBM), demonstrating a determination to push back the frontiers of engineering and overcome the most complex logistical challenges.

With an impressive, world record diameter of 17.6 metres, the TBM epitomises the very essence of Bouygues Construction’s technical daring and innovation.

A project that respects the marine ecosystem

This mammoth project, which was completed in 2020, was carried out in compliance with the strictest environmental standards, in order to preserve the marine ecosystem and water quality and reduce noise pollution.

This extraordinary tunnel embodies not only the technical excellence displayed by the teams, but also Bouygues Construction’s commitment to developing innovative construction methods in response to the challenges posed by the urbanisation of new areas: it has improved links between the islands of Hong Kong while keeping surface traffic to a minimum.