Other projects using wood were in progress in 2024, such as the construction of the Silva tower in Bordeaux and the Envision EV battery gigafactory in Lambres-lez-Douai. The Weko project, backed by VINCI Immobilier, is testing an innovative construction technique involving a concrete column and beam structure, filled with bales of rice straw and coated on the inside with raw earth and on the outside with lime. These bio-sourced materials, mainly of local origin (rice straw from Camargue and earth from the building site), ensure the thermal inertia of the building’s walls.
The Building France and Civil Engineering France divisions of VINCI Construction ensure that the procurement of bio-sourced materials meets relevant social and environmental standards (with respect to sourcing, harvesting techniques). Several framework agreements covering bio-sourced insulation material, cladding and outdoor flooring, etc. entered into effect for this purpose in the fourth quarter of 2024.
To improve building processes, Freyssinet, a company in VINCI Construction’s Specialty Networks, has tested several alternative solutions to polystyrene in formwork for road joints and aims to gradually replace this material across all worksites of this type.
In addition, training programmes help to promote the use of bio-sourced materials. With a clear understanding of these new materials, teams can better respond to growing customer and government demands. Pricing and construction teams can more easily offer customers designs and alternatives that include bio-sourced materials.
Advancing reuse solutions
Reuse is a circular economy approach that aims to recover products, equipment or materials from a structure, generally at the end of its life, before it is demolished or rehabilitated, to be reused at another worksite. The entire building and civil engineering sector is concerned by this approach, but reuse is growing faster in the building business because its products, equipment and materials are easier to reuse. Furthermore, the regulatory landscape in France encourages reuse, such as through the French environmental regulation RE2020 and extended producer responsibility (EPR) for construction products and materials in the building sector. The Building France Division of VINCI Construction launched the development of a reuse stream in 2020 with La Ressourcerie, a reuse specialist developed through Leonard’s intrapreneurship programme, to support operational teams in the tendering or execution phases. In addition to this expertise, the Group benefits from other essential links in the reuse value chain, including VINCI Construction companies like Neom and Cardem that specialise in demolition or cleaning as well as RESO Services, a VINCI Energies company that provides logistics services, with access to storage facilities. Thanks to in-house synergies, VINCI has developed robust reuse streams organised by product, in particular for ventilation ducts, glazed partitions, cable trays and electric cables. To date, these are mainly in the Greater Paris area.
VINCI also supports two reuse initiatives through Leonard’s intrapreneurship programme, one of which is Circable, a new service by Cegelec Nord Grands Projets (VINCI Energies) dedicated to electric cable reuse. Through the Scale Up! programme, it also supported the rollout of 19 initiatives from the Environment Awards, which will continue into 2025 (see paragraph 2.1.2.1, “Employee engagement”, page 201).
VINCI also collaborates with outside partners, as illustrated by the Avant-Seine rehabilitation site in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Thanks to the work of two environmental organisations, Écominéro and Ecomaison, together with Neom, 744 tonnes of material were reused in 2024. Meanwhile, several programmes and tools have been put into effect to encourage Group employees to play their part in the reuse campaign. For example, VINCI Construction and VINCI Energies have developed their internal reuse marketplace, a digital platform where anyone can post an ad to rent out, hire, buy or sell any type of material or equipment. As an alternative to purchasing new equipment, the Reyuz application from VINCI Energies enables the sale of equipment not in use between its business units. At the end of 2024, 453 notices had been published and 6,837 pieces of equipment had been sold or were in the process of being sold on the platform.
Across a broader scope than reuse, VINCI also promotes circular economy principles. VINCI Construction is a contributor to the environmental organisation Écominéro and a founding member of CircoLab, an organisation that develops the circular economy in the property development and construction industries, of which VINCI Energies is also a member.
Policy for improving waste sorting and recovery
VINCI is implementing a policy to reduce the waste generated by the Construction and Energy businesses (mainly worksite waste) and by users of concessions (at airports, on roads, at motorway service areas, etc.) and to implement waste recovery more widely. Group subsidiaries are taking action in several ways to reduce waste at the source:
Definitions of waste indicators are provided in paragraph 5.3.5, “Resources, waste and materials”, of the methodology note, page 276, and the monitoring of waste produced is indicated in paragraph 2.3.3.2, “Materials and waste”, page 224.
Actions to improve waste sorting and recovery
At VINCI Concessions, 2024 saw the finalisation of a tool to systematically incorporate social and environmental clauses into contracts with third parties during the tendering phase. Among other stipulations, the clauses require the sorting of waste at source and waste management processes that support the Group’s goals. The clauses were tested for the first time for Annecy Haute-Savoie Mont-Blanc airport. As a result, a few corrections were made before rolling out the tool across the VINCI Airports network.
