Subsidiaries

Part of Bouygues Construction's Specialist Civil Works division, VSL is an expert in post-tensioning systems for civil engineering structures and buildings. The company has developed its own systems for bridges and buildings, as well as for cable-stay systems for large bridges. VSL operates worldwide in a network of some fifty locations, and holds numerous active patents, allowing it to offer its customers high added-value technical expertise.

VSL is a world leader in post-tensioning, a technique for improving the load-bearing properties of concrete by incorporating high-tensile steel cables into structures, and then putting them under tension. Post-tensioning extends the potential of concrete applications in structures such as bridges, decks and floors. The company is also specialised in cable-stay systems for bridges. VSL can use Ductal^®, an ultra-high strength concrete which reduces environmental impact by lessening the consumption of raw materials.



 

VSL's development is based on three strands:

VSL has a policy of creating alliances for massive civil engineering projects which provide access to new markets through global solutions that combine VSL's know-how with that of its partners. By the same token, partnerships with companies operating in fields related to its own enable it to diversify its offer. 

A company performing high added-value services, VSL invests extensively in research and development. Its work chiefly focuses on post-tensioning and cable stay processes, particularly on saddles, an area in which VSL ranks among the world's leading players. The innovative VSL SSI Saddle system was subjected to testing at the Technische Universität Berlin and successfully passed all the fatigue and tensile tests imposed by the most stringent international standards. This model was brought into service in 2009. VSL also made advances in its research on dampers, which reduce vibrations on cable-stay bridges and in buildings, offering earthquake protection.

The VSL Academy has been created in 2008. Based in Bangkok in Thailand, the centre is dedicated to providing employees with theoretical and practical training in techniques of post-tensioning. It has the additional role of helping circulate innovations: all technical innovation, on whatever scale, introduced by any of the company's 35 subsidiaries are immediately relayed to the entire network through the VSL Academy.