Every good superhero universe has its origins story. Hagerbach’s begins with Rudolf Amberg, looking to innovate and find new efficiency savings for his iron mine. So began a 50-year journey from testing equipment and explosives, to fire and tunnel safety simulations, and ever more creative uses for underground space.

Ultimately the mining industry in Switzerland failed, but Hagerbach survived, and is still an iconic test site for the mining and tunnelling industries.

This year it will celebrate its history and look towards its future with the NXT 50 Festival. And some of the ideas on display will push the use of underground space to greater heights than ever before.

Guests

Antonia Cornaro, Business Development Manager, Amberg Engineering

Felix Amberg, President, Amberg Group

Michael Kompatscher, CEO, Hagerbach Test Gallery

Resources

For more information on the Hagerbach NXT 50 Festival, click here

For a previous episode of The Tunnelling Podcast that covered underground farming in Hagerbach, click here and a video explaining the concept can be found here

For information about Mission Earth First click here

For the International Tunnelling Association’s Committee for Underground Space, click here

And to learn more about Edge Computing Underground, click here 

Supporters

The Amberg Group is a unique knowledge, engineering and technology provider of logistics and infrastructures for smart cities, hubs and networks through innovative combinations of above and underground space usage. Its products and services cover in a digitalized manner the entire life cycle of the infrastructures and all engineering and technology aspects.

ACO is the leading supplier for drainage solutions in the building industry. Drainage Solutions for the tunnelling industry is one of the core competencies of ACO. The combination of unique materials with the ACO safety concept for tunnels offers the optimal solution for every project. The prefabricated systems are built to the individual design of every project and ensures an easy and fast installation.

The post #112 Hagerbach: The Bat Cave of Tunnelling first appeared on Engineering Matters.