Lastly, major energy infrastructure projects included: in the United Kingdom, replacement of a 97 km pipeline between Southampton and London, supplying Heathrow airport with aviation fuel, and construction, as part of the extension of Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas terminal on the Isle of Grain, of a 190,000 cu. metre LNG tank in synergy with VINCI Construction UK; in France, the new phase of the ITER project, an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, in collaboration with the Civil Engineering France division and Nuvia (Specialty Networks) in Bouches du Rhône; in Canada, a new 166 km gas pipeline (Coastal GasLink) and a 225,000 cu. metre LNG tank in British Columbia.
SPECIALTY NETWORKS
In this field, where VINCI Construction’s niche expertise is recognised worldwide, business once again grew significantly (20% to €4.3 billion).
SOLETANCHE BACHY (49% of revenue), a global leader in foundations, posted record business levels, with revenue surpassing €2 billion for the first time. Earnings were evenly divided across local projects and major operations, some of which were carried out in collaboration with other VINCI Construction entities, and the order backlog remained very high.
The main projects Soletanche Bachy worked on were: in the UK, the High Speed 2 line (foundations for Old Oak Common station and over 200 engineering structures in the Birmingham area); in France, the Grand Paris Express programme, the Austerlitz holding tank and associated structures to improve the quality of water in the Seine in Paris, the Lyon–Turin rail link and the extension of the STMicroelectronics semiconductor plant in Crolles (near Grenoble); in Poland, the new underground tram stop at Warsaw West station, which is set to become the country’s leading transit hub; in the United States, the Shoreline Storage Tunnel, which will contribute to strengthening Ohio’s sanitation system; in Asia, the foundations and infrastructure of Hong Kong airport’s new Terminal 3 and the North–South Corridor urban expressway in Singapore (cut and cover tunnel); in Latin America, the extension of a wharf at the port of Altamira in Mexico, support of excavation works for the Antara tower in Mexico City and the Canoas wastewater treatment plant in Colombia, which will process 75% of the wastewater from the capital, Bogotá.
Lastly, the Bessac subsidiary (which specialises in tunnels and microtunnels) has expanded significantly in Canada, where it is building the access shafts and tunnels for the Annacis Island (British Columbia) wastewater treatment plant and the Fairbank Silverthorn storm collector in Toronto, as well as in Côte d ’Ivoire, where it carried out the country’s first micro tunnelling project for a stormwater drainage pipe associated with a motorway structure. In France, Bessac partnered with Soletanche Bachy Fondations Spéciales to construct the treated water discharge pipe at the Bonneuil en France wastewater treatment plant (north of Paris), using ultra low carbon concrete pipes for the microtunnel lining.
MENARD (16% of revenue), which specialises in soil investigation, improvement and remediation, posted record growth of 43%, thanks to brisk activity in the Middle East and Oceania combined with external growth operations. In the United States, after acquiring Californian company Farrell Design Build at the end of 2021, Menard acquired Earth Tech, a Florida based company that specialises in soil improvement and sinkhole mitigation. Major projects carried out in 2022 included: an industrial park in Canada (Beauharnois, Quebec), a logistics centre in the United States (Linden, New Jersey), a Levi Strauss & Co logistics site in Germany, and disposal of polluted materials from construction work at an SNCF train maintenance centre in France.
TERRE ARMÉE (6% of revenue), a specialist in engineered backfills and soil structure interaction, recorded strong growth in Asia, Oceania and Canada, particularly on railway infrastructure projects. The company continued to diversify its solutions in reinforced steep slopes, protective barriers and antierosion systems. It also developed its industrial base in order to increase its prefabricated concrete capacities in the United States and Australia, and to step up production of its geosynthetic materials.
20% Growth in business outside France in 2022.
