Nichole’s tunnelling career started when she was sent to Australia for what was supposed to be 3 weeks. Four years later she made it back to Canada after working on 12 km of highway tunnel under the city of Brisbane. Back in Canada she was promptly sent to the Yukon to cool her back down to Canadian temperatures after 4 years of the Aussie sun to work on a small hydropower tunnel that experienced some significant water inflows. After the Yukon, international tunnelling called again, and Nichole spent the better part of a year tunnelling in Chile for repair of a hydropower tunnel that had experienced a collapse due to some previously unrecognized adverse geology.
After all of her worldwide experience, Nichole moved back to BC, where she worked on three independent hydropower projects, each with their own unique geology, including tunnelling through the most recent volcanic deposit in BC. Most recently Nichole has primarily been working on wastewater microtunnel projects in Canada, from both the contractor and consultant sides of the table.
Aldea Engineering Services
Nichole Boultbee is an Engineering Geologist with over 15 years of experience in engineering investigation, design, and construction for numerous tunnel and infrastructure projects in Canada, Australia, and Chile. Her experience includes work in both the consultant and contractor role, and involved interpretation of field and laboratory results, engineering analysis and design, project management, planning and organization, and construction supervision for various projects. Nichole currently works for Aldea Engineering Services, and is on the Board of Directors for the Tunnelling Association of Canada encouraging young member involvement in the industry.