First pier foundation for the Bacalan-Bastide Bridge
On 17 June, in Bordeaux (south-west France), work on the vertical lift bridge that will link the Bacalan (left bank) and Bastide (right bank) neighbourhoods moved into a new phase with the lowering into position of the two bases and the first pier foundation, on which the two right-bank towers will be constructed. It took eight hours to tow each element, and in particular the huge pier foundation (length: 44 m; width: 18 m; height: 15.50 m; 5,750 t) (photo), from the dry dock located at Bassens, 4 km downstream from the worksite on the Garonne. Worth €125m exclusive of tax, the project is being implemented on a design-build basis by GTM Sud-Ouest TP GC, leader of the consortium, GTM Sud (VINCI Construction France subsidiaries) and Dodin Campenon Bernard (VINCI Construction), with Cimolai for the steel framework and EGIS/JMI in association with Michel Virlogeux, architecture and engineering structures, and Hardesty & Hanover on the design side. SDI, a subsidiary of DEME (CFE/VINCI Construction) undertook the preparatory works on the riverbed. Santerne Aquitaine Nord, Citéos Bordeaux and Actemium Bordeaux (three Energy business line business units) have just been awarded the contract, worth €1.65m, for the high- and low-voltage power supply and the video surveillance, automation, supervision and lighting of the bridge.
New sponsorship agreement at the Château of Versailles
Xavier Huillard, Chairman & CEO of VINCI, and Jean-Jacques Aillagon, President of the Établissement Public du Musée et du Domaine National de Versailles (EPV), signed a sponsorship agreement on 28 May. Having undertaken the restoration of the Hall of Mirrors (between 2004 and 2007) and then the construction of a temporary visitor reception centre at the Château (in 2008), within the framework of skills-based sponsorship operations, VINCI is now set to provide financial support for the restoration of the Belvedere and its Rock, a project included in the EPV’s programme of works. Worth 500,000 euros, the donation amounts to half the estimated cost of the works, with the balance to be provided by the WMF (World Monuments Fund), the leading private international organisation working to safeguard the world’s architectural and cultural heritage. The project, due to take a year to complete, will involve restoring the Belvedere’s external façades, the lead roofing of the dome, and the entire interior décor, as well as consolidating and restoring the Rock, an artificial landscape feature adjoining this little gazebo.
Power station
Cegelec Global Systems & Services, the Major Projects arm of Cegelec (Energy business line), in a joint venture with General Electric, is to participate as an official EPC contractor in the design and turnkey construction of a new power station on behalf of the National Electricity Office (ONE). This project, the biggest contract secured by Cegelec in recent years, involves supplying the “Balance of Plant” auxiliary electrical and mechanical equipment and the civil engineering, as well as coordinating these works. Located at Kenitra, north of Rabat, the plant will have three turbines, providing a total output of 315 MW. Its entry into service in 2012, following 25 months of works, will contribute to meeting an increasing demand for electricity. Contract value: €206m (of which €97m for Cegelec).
Start Signal for Cinema City
On 25 March, EuropaCorp Studios gave VINCI Immobilier formal notification, within the framework of their property development contract (CPI), to start work on the future Cité du Cinéma, in Saint-Denis (by Paris). The works, on a general contracting basis, have been entrusted to Bateg (VINCI Construction France), working in association with Lefort Francheteau and Phibor Vital, two VINCI Energies business units (Energy business line), for the technical works packages. The new complex (surface area: 62,000 sq. metres) will accommodate the head office of EuropaCorp, production and post-production offices, the École Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière and workshops for the production of film sets, as well as nine film studios, a 450-seat projection room, a functions space and a restaurant. Value of the works: €103m; handover is scheduled for April 2012.
Brest tramway: A flagship project for Eurovia Bretagne
On 18 March, Eurovia Bretagne launched the works on the first line of the urban community of Brest Métropole Océane’s tram network. On its entry into service, scheduled for mid-2012, this 14.3 km line will cross the urban area from east to west. Boasting 27 stops, it will link up the main residential and business neighbourhoods. Valued at 105 million euros, the project will be implemented by Eurovia Bretagne’s offices in association with ETF-Eurovia Travaux Ferroviaires which, in a consortium with two local firms, have been awarded the entire works: roadways, civil engineering, urban development, tracks and infrastructure. It will be carried out on a sustainable development basis. Among other initiatives, this will involve a carbon assessment of freight operations, recycling of materials, and the environmental management of the worksite in order to reduce the impact on nearby residents (noise, dust, accessibility, etc.).
Eurovia acquires 100 quarries in Europe
Eurovia has just agreed to buy the French, German, Polish and Czech quarries of mining group Anglo American plc’s subsidiary Tarmac. The deal (subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities) concerns some 100 hard rock, sand and gravel extraction sites (annual output: around 30 million tons), employing nearly 1,000 people and generating annual sales worth approximately €150m. This acquisition will enable Eurovia to increase its aggregate production by 40%, complete its supply network in Europe and strengthen its industrial capacity in countries where road construction activity is growing strongly.
Upgrading Tottenham Court Road tube station in London
The joint venture formed by Taylor Woodrow (VINCI Construction UK) and BAM Nuttall Ltd has been awarded a £250m (€282m) contract by Transport for London (TfL) to upgrade Tottenham Court Road tube station in London (UK). The project will result in a doubling of the station’s capacity. In particular, the ticket hall will be extended, the station’s existing platforms and passageways will be modernised, and new station entrances and a new concourse linked to the station will be provided. The contract also calls for the construction of new buildings providing staff accommodation, and a ticket hall for the Crossrail Eastern line (the future urban railway system serving London and South-West England). And, finally, the works will include the area outside the station: improved facilities for road users (pedestrians, cyclists, buses and cars), and a new piazza on St Giles Road. Construction work begins early in 2010, with handover scheduled for September 2016.
Opening of the Vauban Docks
In Le Havre (Normandy), the Vauban Docks were formally inaugurated on 14 October, before being opened to the public the following day. Emblematic of 19th century industrial architecture, the buildings here were erected in 1846 and for decades served as Europe‘s main storage site for coffee; they now house a prestigious shopping and leisure centre. Led by VINCI Immobilier and ING Real Estate on behalf of Unibail-Rodamco, the operation to transform them, at a total cost of 125 million euros, was designed by the architectural firm Reichen et Robert and implemented by VINCI Construction France, together with Eurovia and VINCI Energies. The project involved refurbishing and extending 13 huge buildings (60 metres long, 25 metres wide and 12 metres high); their brick and timber structures support roof structures in timber or steel; they are linked together by courtyards and glass-roofed passageways, laid out in a regular pattern. In all it took 18 months and the daily efforts of more than 200 workers to transform the site while retaining the original external appearance of the buildings. The Vauban Docks offer a total surface area of almost 60,000 sq. metres, of which 55,000 sq. metres are devoted to retail outlets, cultural activities and sport. A “day” zone features, among other things, a vast garden centre boasting a tropical greenhouse, a hypermarket, and shops specialising in homewares, DIY or creative leisure activities, as well as particularly specialised outlets catering for the skiing and sailing fraternities. The “night” zone, for its part, offers a 12-screen multiplex cinema, a bar, restaurants, pavement cafés… There are also two new car parks, with car lifts, providing 1,094 parking spaces. Destined to become the port of Greater Paris, with this operation Le Havre has clearly demonstrated its dynamism and magnetic appeal.
Synergies for the extension of the port at Cotonou
On 4 August last, as part of the planned extension of the port in Cotonou (Benin), Sogea-Satom Bénin (VINCI Construction Filiales Internationales), EMCC (VINCI Construction France) and Soletanche Bachy, a subsidiary of Soletanche Freyssinet (VINCI Construction), signed two design-build contracts with MCA Bénin (Millenium Challenge Account). The first, won by Soletanche Bachy, calls for the creation of a 600 m, diaphragm-wall quay, catering for a draught of 12 m, extendable to 15 m. The works, in part entrusted to Sogea-Satom Bénin, began in September, and are due for completion in June 2011. Value: 48.2 million dollars (nearly 33 million euros). The second contract, worth 28.7 million dollars (19.5 million euros) and secured as a joint venture by Sogea-Satom Bénin and EMCC, involves extending the current harbour wall by 300 m. 300,000 t of rip-rap and 4,100 concrete elements will be required to complete this structure, located in water that is 12 m deep. The works, some of which will be carried out by Dumez Maroc (VINCI Construction Filiales Internationales), will take 22 months.
United Arab Emirates: Dynamic compaction in record time
As part of the Abu Dhabi 2030 urban development plan, the emirate intends to build a town comprising 5,000 villas, 2,300 houses, 2,100 high-rise buildings, a hospital, a shopping centre and 14 schools between now and 2013. The soil at the selected site being of poor quality, Ménard, a subsidiary of Soletanche Freyssinet (VINCI Construction), was appointed to undertake soil improvement works on a surface area of some 5 million square metres (of the site’s 12 million square metres). Dynamic compaction (a technique involving dropping a weight of between 15 and 20 tonnes from a height of 15 to 20 metres), carried out by eleven cranes working round the clock, enabled the company to fulfil its biggest-ever contract in just 7 months (a month ahead of schedule).
A19 Opening of 101 km of eco-motorway
On 16 June at noon, four months ahead of schedule, Arcour (VINCI Concessions) opened France’s first ecomotorway to traffic: the A19 links up the A10, the A6 and the A77, and provides the southern bypass round the Île-de-France (the Paris region). The entry into service of this 101 km artery between Artenay and Courtenay (central France) marks the completion of the biggest motorway worksite in France: 8,000 people contributed to the project, putting in 4 million hours of work. Designed and built in just four years by Group companies – VINCI Construction Grands Projets, VINCI Construction France and Eurovia, working together within the Socaly consortium – at a cost of 847 million euros (90% financed by VINCI), and operated by Cofiroute (VINCI Concessions) within the framework of a 65-year concession contract, the A19 testifies to the soundness of VINCI’s concession-construction business model and the Group’s long-term commitment to regional development. It also demonstrates the Group’s know-how as regards sustainable development. The A19 boasts 107 run-off treatment basins (i.e. more than one per kilometre), 9 km of noise barriers (twice the legal requirement), 116 animal crossings and 200,000 trees planted along its route (see Esprit VINCI No. 54, pp. 24-26). This motorway is also the first in France to try out a continuouslymarked hard shoulder, in one traffic direction. By going beyond the current regulatory requirements, the A19 foreshadows a new generation of motorways: “This is a model, an example the entire network must aim to follow,” said French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau at the inauguration ceremony.