COB Wat doet het COB?

COB international

The COB focuses on subterranean construction on Dutch soil, but problems and solutions are more and more international. We therefore actively seek collaboration with international (European) partners to join forces and learn from each other. This page provides information on our organisation and the (mainly tunnel)research projects and activities that continue beyond the Dutch border.

The Centre for Underground Construction (COB) is a network organisation, a foundation with more than a hundred participants, all of whom are involved in underground construction and the use of underground space. The network consists of consulting engineers, construction companies, governments, and knowledge institutions. The COB initiates and supervises projects that contribute to solving shared underground problems and collects and provides access to knowledge about the underground use of space. The acquired knowledge is accessible to everyone.

To give a clear insight into the COB, the current projects, and affiliated participants, take a look at the overview. Last update: July 2023. 
>> Download overview plate (pdf, 3 MB)

Beyond a tunnel vision

Tunnels play a vital role in infrastructure and many of them in Europe need major renovations. Together with CEDR, ABTUS-BVOTS, Ie-net ingenieursvereniging en KIVI the COB organises the European conference Beyond a tunnel vision. During this event, big questions will be addressed, like: How can tunnels be renovated in a clever way? To what extent can they be updated with a minor impact on traffic?

PhD and postdoc symposium

Various universities, PhD students, and postdocs are working on finding solutions for the challenges the owners of the critical nodes in infrastructure are faced with. Are u one of them? The PhD and postdoc symposium during Technology and Research Arena (TRA) in Dublin is your chance to share your research findings with peers, senior researchers, and other professionals.

Bring your own tunnel

Transport infrastructure is essential for European competitiveness and therefore for Europe’s prosperity. Tunnels are vital assets in this network with high availability requirements. Many of them need significant renovations, but shutting them down for long periods of time is no option. Because of the sheer volume and complexity of the work, these issues need to be addressed on a  European scale. 

Other international activities

Apart from the bigger conferences and symposia, the COB is engaged in more international activities. Read all about other meetings, webinars, lectures, and documents that are potentially interesting for a broader audience than the Dutch, here.

International products

Because some underground construction issues are in fact not only Dutch, a number of originally Dutch COB publications are also available in English. This page provides an overview of those publications, wich contains living documents as well as project reports.