Thursday September 7th, 2017
Built in the port of Saint-Nazaire, Floatgen, France’s first floating wind turbine, has taken a new major step forward. The concrete foundation was floated on 23 August after a construction process which began in the autumn of 2016.
After installing the wind turbine’s mooring system off the coast of Le Croisic last July, the foundation took to the water, marking a new key stage in the project implemented by Ideol, the Ecole Centrale de Nantes and Bouygues Travaux Publics. The concrete foundation was tugged into the Forme Joubert Lock, a dry dock at the entrance to the port of Saint-Nazaire to be floated, a tricky technical operation to float off the floater from the three barges on which it had been built.
“Everything was placed in dry dock on concrete and wooden blocks which support the keel of a ship during dry construction. The barges were then filled with water to be sunk. When the lock was filled with water, the floater disengaged from its support”, explains Perceval Modiano, project manager at Bouygues Travaux Publics.
The imposing, 5,000-tonne concrete structure, 36 metres square by 9.5 metres high, will soon be accommodating a 2-MW wind turbine. The project’s next stage will be to mount the wind turbine’s tower, the turbine and its blades. The final unit will top out at over 80 metres.
By mid-October, it will be towed to the SEM-REV installation site, 22 km off the coast of Le Croisic for initial trials covering a period of 2 years.
Highlight of the worksite: “we have developed a lightweight, self-compacting type of concrete to minimise the weight of the structure and pour the concrete without vibrating it,” explains Régis Bigard, head of the Floatgen project with Bouygues Travaux Publics.
The aerial cable link between the two banks of the Penfeld River in Brest, a design-construction project for Brest Métropole Océane by a consortium that includes Bouygues Bâtiment Grand Ouest, is symbolic for the city of Brest and a first in France. It links the city centre with the new Les Capucins district, which is […]
In the Great Canadian North, in the heart of the deserted province of Nunavut, the Arctic Infrastructure Partners consortium, led by Bouygues Building Canada, is carrying out the extension of the Iqaluit airport. An atypical project which comprises in particular the design and construction of a new terminal, and the renovation of the current runways, all this on […]
The choice of location in Saint-Ouen's Docks district is no accident: the Fabrique du métro is located at the heart of an area which plays an emblematic role in the current Grand Paris development.
The Tour Alto is one of many prestigious high-rise buildings erected in La Défense and in other French cities.
We always need people who dream, imagine and conceive tomorrow’s city. If you can imagine it, at Bouygues Construction, we can build it, anywhere in the world. With one ambition: shaping a better in the regions where we operate, for our clients, our partners and the users of our buildings and structures. Find out about our […]
The 2nd edition of VivaTech, one of Europe’s biggest innovation events where 50,000 are expected, will take place from 15 to 17 June. Roland Le Roux, Director of Open Innovation, gives us a sneak peak at the technologies Bouygues Construction will be presenting, as well as the start-ups in attendance.
A massive project undertaken almost 10 years ago, the Manufacture des Allumettes was converted and refurbished into rented social housing for the residents of the agglomeration. This innovative approach has two objectives: to preserve one of the town's historic monuments; and to respond to the territorial issues faced by the whole region.
Perhaps you weren't aware of it, but Bouygues Construction has built and renovated many universities, providing, in its own way, greater access to knowledge. Higher education's demands are rapidly evolving. In this context, the company has thought up a new way to design, build and use educational spaces that are adapted to digital learning, open to the world, and that have minimal environmental impact.
We’re continuing our visit to Switzerland, this time taking a look at our subsidiary Losinger Marazzi’s projects in the north-east of the country. Here are some great photos from 2016: – Greencity is the flagship project for both Losinger Marazzi and Bouygues Construction. It’s the first sustainable neighbourhood in Switzerland and is 2,000 Watts-certified. Having won […]
