The event took place at the Crocus Expo Centre and was combined with the Ecwatech Trade Fair and Congress, essentially a huge Russian watershow, and was organised by Sibico International and the Russian Society for Trenchless Technology (RSTT).

Participation in the exhibition was strong, with an impressive variety of machinery on display. There were 140 exhibitors from 20 countries occupying 2,534 sq m of indoor space and 894 sq m outside. There were 325 delegates from 25 countries and 48 papers were presented in two streams with authors from 18 countries. Together with the water event, there were 12,000 visitors.

A range of international papers were also presented, some notable examples include;

• ‘Mega drilling in Russia sets a new standard’ – Ralf Kiesow, Prime Drilling.
• ‘Applications of geopolymer materials in rehabilitation of industrial sewers’ – Ray Sterling.
• ‘Sustainability in Trenchless Construction’ – Sam Ariaratnam, Arizona State University.
• ‘Pipeline renewal – Pipe bursting with the Hydroburst and Air Impactor technology’ – Brian Metcalf, Vermeer.
• ‘Modelling the behaviour of a micro-tunnelling due to steering corrections’ – Wout Broere, Delft University of Technology.

The official hotel was the Golden Ring, which was a short trip from key sites like the Kremlin and Red Square, although a rather longer trek to the actual event venue. The trip required a ride on the famous Moscow Metro, followed by two bus connections, made all the more interesting by the fact that the bus drivers never stopped in the same place twice!

The social program was of a high standing, with the Russians putting on an excellent display of hospitality and more than enough food (and vodka) for everyone. The Gala Dinner took place on a three-hour cruise back to the hotel. The Annual No Dig Awards were presented at the dinner, the winners were;

• Product Award – Herrenknecht for Direct Pipe. ISTT Chairman Dec Downey described the product as combining the best features of HDD and microtunnelling to give a new and important technique for use in difficult ground conditions. “Two plus two does, in this case, give five,” Downey said, as the combination of techniques gives a significantly better technique than either HDD or microtunnelling alone (see page 64 for more detail).
• Academic Award - The Technical University, Kielce, Poland, represented by course tutor Eng. Agata Zwierzchowski, Ph.D.
• Project Award - of Longbore TT Ltd for the Strangford Loch Marine Turbine Cable, for successfully installing the power cable from the first tidal power water turbine to be installed in the United Kingdom in an area of great environmental sensitivity. John Ritchie and Ross Henderson accepted their award dressed in traditional Scottish kilts.

The event followed just nine months after the last No Dig in Rome, and delegates will be heading to Toronto in March 2009 for the next event.