In 1993 the Dutch government decided to commence with an extensive research and development program on underground construction. One of the main topics was to gather and develop knowledge in the field of the impact of shield tunnelling on buildings (i.e. pile foundations) situated in the vicinity of the bored tunnels. Several research projects were started in 1993 combined with the already planned tunnel projects, such as the Second Heinenoordtunnel, the Botlek railway tunnel and more recently the Sophia railway tunnel. This paper describes the results of the research projects and gives an evaluation of the impact of shield tunnelling on the bearing capacity of pile foundations and the ratio between surface settlements and pile settlements.