Works of Antoni Gaudí

Infrastructure project for a high-speed train tunnel 

On 31 January 2011, the State Party transmitted a report from the national company operating the Spanish railway system (ADIF) on progress made in implementing the recommendations, and also providing detailed technical documentation on the work conducted. This documentation is in addition to monthly technical information that the State Party submitted on the progress of work.

In its report, the State Party addresses the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee by providing the following information:

a) The Monitoring Committee was established with 19 international and independent experts from different disciplines. At the time of writing the report, the Committee met three times -- twice before the start of the work in front of the Sagrada Familia and once after the completion of the work. It is mentioned that the experts also carried out continuous monitoring during construction.

b) A detailed monitoring of progress of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) was implemented with technical vibration surveys before and after the passage of the TBM. Its passage at the level of the Sagrada Familia occured in early autumn 2010, without notable consequences in terms of soil compaction. Recordings of vibrations and soil compaction were made in the immediate proximity of the foundations and beyond the row of protection pillars. During the construction period, a vibration control device was introduced near the Casa Mila. The recordings have remained well within the safety standards in force.

c) The procedure for suspension of the work by the Committee is documented: it was implemented as from September 2010, based on 24/24h monitoring of the technical surveys of the work.

d) A vibration monitoring programme is planned for when the high speed trains will begin running in 2012, and will be submitted for evaluation before its implementation. For now, no additional reinforcement measures for the vibration absorber systems is considered necessary. There is no monitoring programme for the subway lines, and the ADIF directing the work of AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) is not responsible for subway lines.

e) It is envisaged that the Monitoring Committee shall continue its work until completion of the project in July 2011. The ADIF does not anticipate a longer-term monitoring programme.

f) The report nevertheless proposes to establish another monitoring committee following the construction phase in order to sustain a monitoring programme.

In its monthly reports of December 2010 and January 2011, the State Party provides the following additional information:

a) Cubic blocks of concrete will be employed to buttress the row of protection piles of the foundations and its bracing, at the level of the Sagrada Familia, below the surface of Mallorca street.

b) The Bureau of Experts met on 26 August 2010 and approved the project to build a row of concrete piles along the facade of the Casa Mila, based on a model similar to that already existing alongside the Sagrada Familia, to protect and isolate the foundations of this building. The 37 piles were placed in late January 2011.

The World Heritage Centre continues to receive complaints from local NGOs expressing their concern about the work of the tunnel. For example, the NGOs provided information that in January 2011 a stone had fallen from the heights of the Sagrada Familia, thereby suggesting possible ground vibrations. 

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies find that the work of isolating the foundations of the Sagrada Familia by rows of reinforced concrete piles appears so far to provide protection in conformity with the previsional studies already provided. The results, as reported by the State Party, during the passage of the TBM, and in the months following, seem satisfactory in terms of soil compaction and vibrations observed during construction. However, the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies note the following points:

• Lack of information on a permanent monitoring programme of soil compaction and vibrations at the level of the structures of the two buildings servicing the underground railway for the two existing subway lines (Recommendation 5.d).
• The Monitoring Committee did not meet during the construction of the tunnel in front of the Sagrada Familia -- between August 2010 and January 2011.
• Vibration recordings appear to be neither exhaustive nor continuous, notably during the passage of the TBM.
• Studies for enhanced anti-vibration technical devices during the installation of the underground railway line and information on the regulation of its use by high speed trains are not specified.
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It is recommended that an independent committee be set up permanently to ensure the monitoring programme and specifically the monitoring of soil compaction and vibration at the level of the structures of the two buildings concerned.