The Belgian Association for Underground Techniques and Townplanning (ABTUS-BVOTS) is a nonprofit organization, independent of any other association or organization. It brings together all circles interested not only in the design, the construction, the use, the operation and the maintenance of underground achievements, but also in the planning of the underground in its broadest sense, including the basic principles of urban underground life, and all disciplines concerning the use of the underground, with its environment (underground space), its safety (construction and operation) and its security.
The Association has at this moment around one hundred members, collective and individual, coming from all concerned sectors : public administrations, universities, contractors, engineering companies, suppliers, research centers, etc.
Activities
To reach its aim of informing, it organizes with this aim activities for its members and participates in the activities of the international associations it is linked with, as the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA-AITES), of which it is co-founder, its Committees and Working Groups, and the Road Tunnels Operation Committee of the World Road Association (PIARC-AIPCR).
At the national level, it keeps collegial relations with the Belgian Group for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnics, and with the Belgian Society for Engineering Geology and Rock Mechanics.