A TUNNELLING project has earned a Tadcaster civil engineering group the 2005 Project Of The Year title.

Birse Civils, of Sherburn Road, earned the award from the North East Civil Engineering Contractors Association for its feats in building stage two of the South Stockton Link, on Teesside. This connects Stockton town centre and Ingleby Barwick, Europe's largest private housing development, with the A66 and national trunk road network.

Birse Civils' pioneering corrugated steel tunnel system, rather than

conventional pre-cast concrete solution, meant that the road opened 12 months ahead of schedule and made about £2.8 million worth of savings.

Updated: 09:24 Tuesday, November 29, 2005