In 1994, under the leadership of the then Chairman, Prof K. Fujita, a one-day International Symposium was held in New Delhi – just before the 13th ICSMGE. Following the success of this, it was decided to initiate under the Chairmanship of Prof R. Mair a series of two-day International Symposia on Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground, with a third day devoted to technical site visits to underground construction projects. These International Symposia have been held every three years over the past 10 years as follows: 1996 London, 1999 Tokyo, 2002 Toulouse, 2005 Amsterdam, and 2008 Shanghai. These symposia, for all of which comprehensive proceedings have been produced containing the written papers, selected and reviewed by members of TC28, along with general reports and special lectures, thus provide a regular means of presenting information about the latest construction projects and research linked to the theme of Underground Construction in Soft Ground.
The 2005-2008 period has been very active, TC28 having organised a major symposium in Shanghai (2008), two regional workshops, in Perth (2007) and Budapest (2008). The 2008 symposium in Shanghai was attended by 182 registered delegates from 27 countries, and the proceedings contain four invited lectures, six general reports and 112 papers. Three working groups have been created during this period for constructing a database about underground construction projects, establishing “Guidelines for comparing field or physical model observations with numerical simulations”, and launching a survey on design practice in the field of soft ground tunnelling. The main outcomes and other activities of TC28 will be presented at a workshop organised during the next ICSMGE, Alexandria 2009. Plans are already in place for continuing TC28's activities for the period 2009-2013: completing the work initiated by the 3 working groups and organising an International Symposium (continuing in the series) in Roma (Italy) in 2008.