David Lees and Associates was appointed by Halcrow to provide Design Management Services for the tender design of Contract of the proposed New Delhi Metro for McConnell Dowell/Obayashi Joint venture. The project included the design of 6km of twin underground railway mostly in bored tunnel and 6 new underground railway stations. Five of the stations were to be built in cut and cover type construction and the new station at Chawri Bazaar was to be an underground station formed by the enlargement of the running tunnels.
The geology of the route consisted of soft Delhi Silt overlying very hard Pre-Cambrian quartzite. The route went beneath the old section of Delhi at Chawri Bazaar. David Lees and Associates was responsible for determining the effects of settlement on over 550 structures along the route and designing remedial measures to protect those influenced by the tunnel settlement.