Basingstoke-based HyperTunnel Limited has attracted much interest over the past three years with its proposed new tunnelling technique using 3D printing through horizontal directional drilling (HDD) bore pipes.
However, the company is now in administration due to being unable to pay back its principal investor before a deadline next week.
HyperTunnel representatives demonstrated to the 2021 British Tunnelling Society conference and exhibition how little robot devices – a swarm of bots – could transport cartridges of construction chemicals through HDD bore pipes to 3D-print a tunnel in the ground. It claimed that this modular approach could be scaled up to make tunnel building, repair, enlargement and monitoring, faster, cheaper and safer.
It secured a research & development contract with Network Rail after bringing in Mark Carne, former Network Rail chief executive, as chairman. In 2022 it secured investment from French construction group Vinci and earlier this year secured a grant for a demonstration project at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence in Wales.
Then, on 23rd July 2024, administrators from Opus LLP were appointed to take over the affairs of the business, along with its parent company, HyperTunnel Holdings Limited. A statement announcing the fact on the company’s website advises that any queries should be made to the administration team at hypertunnel@opusllp.com.
Joint administrator Paul Davis explained that HyperTunnel had a £12m loan, plus nearly £2.8m interest, falling due at the end of this month to Thai investor Hamersley. In recent weeks the directors had engaged Gordon Brothers to seek investment or a sale of the business, or a restructuring of the debt. None of this was successful.
Mr Davis said that the administrators were now continuing that process and actively seeking to sell the business but, with no restructuring of the debt, the attractiveness of HyperTunnel to new investors was significantly impaired by the fact that £14.8m would be leaving the business on 31st July to Hamersley. But they would keep trying.
None of the 37 employees has yet been let go but they have been advised of the possibility and will receive a further update next week, he said.
For a fuller version of the HyperTunnel story, see our feature from March 2022, Tunnel vision – a new approach to tunnelling.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
