Under the leadership of igr, the ARGE "West Eifel Regional Combined System" has submitted the authorisation documentation for a ground-breaking and innovative infrastructure project in only four months. A water pipeline, a natural gas pipe, a biogas pipe, a 110 kV and a 20 kV cable, and a fibre optic high-speed internet cable will be laid in a 83 km long shared trench, between the Belgium border and Trier.

igr won through against European competitors in a VOF (German regulations on the awarding of contracts for freelance services) tendering process and was awarded the contract both for the technical planning and for the area of environmental impact assessment, nature conservation and species protection. The route was tachymetrically surveyed and represented as a digital terrain model in only six weeks. This was the basis for determining the depth of the individual pipes and cables. The short planning period could be achieved thanks to a specific GIS system. By using data intersections, problems with private plots of land, existing services that had been mapped in the course of the planning, forest clearances, water conservation areas, various other protected areas as well as almost 90 road and waterway crossing points were quickly spotted and resolved.

In the area of nature and species conservation igr worked on an investigation area of up to 8,000 ha, and developed a complex compensation plan in coordination with the specialist authorities, the communities, the forestry administration and the client in a very short time.

The entire igr project team (at times more than 20 members) worked on the project concurrently - igr’s excellent coordination and its experience with such large projects ultimately led to a successful outcome. On 4th March 2016, in the presence of the Environment Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, the documents were handed over to the approving authority.



Hubert Bruch and Daniel Heintz