It's the world's longest sea-crossing bridge: 55 kilometres of motorway spans the Pearl River Estuary in the South China Sea before dipping into an undersea tunnel. The Chinese President Xi Jinping has today officially opened the gigantic infrastructure linking Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. A colossal engineering structure, involving the Bouygues Construction subsidiaries Bouygues Travaux Publics, Dragages Hong Kong and VSL for the construction of a 9.4-kilometre section.
A bridge of strategic importance 5714 prefabricated segments of 250 different types, laid down at the rate of 18 per day, shaft grouted friction piling method to cope with difficult ground conditions – a technical first in Hong Kong –, sea-based installations and specific logistical arrangements to maintain the waterways throughout the duration of the works... Some notable innovations for the construction of this extraordinary bridge structure. It is now possible to reach Hong Kong from the main cities of the Pearl River delta in 30 minutes, compared with four hours by land and one hour by boat. A real basis for stimulating commercial ties between the two sides of the crossing.
Tucked into the heart of the Lille metropolitan area, an extraordinary neighbourhood is taking shape. It’s a neighbourhood focused on its future inhabitants while honouring its past. Let’s explore this project built by Bouygues Bâtiment Nord Est, a company of Bouygues Construction.
Bouygues Construction’s Foresight team, together with Astrées and Chronos, is conducting a forward-looking study on changes in working methods and their impact on workplaces. How will the offices, housing, third places and mobility spaces of tomorrow be designed, equipped and operated in order to address the needs of new ways of working? To answer this question, we held two multi-partner study workshops, on March 30 and May 27, 2021. We chose to bring together stakeholders from various fields of expertise, who will design and use the workplaces of the future: employers and social partners, promoters, operators, local authorities, digital transformation stakeholders, etc. The questions that arise today are truly central issues in skills covering real estate, human resources, digital tools and environmental responsibility. Let’s bring together the visions of these various stakeholders and devise scenarios for 2030!
In France, 1 in 4 people and 1 in 3 jobs are exposed to the risk of flooding, through overflowing watercourses or rising sea levels[1]. In more general terms, floods are a major natural hazard in several regions of the world. These risks are now accentuated by climate change and the increase in extreme weather episodes, including intense rain events in particular. In an urban environment, characterised by a strong increase in soil impermeability, these phenomena promote runoff and associated pollution and lead to congestion and flooding. In addition, urbanisation in flood-prone areas is a major economic and social issue for local communities. To meet these challenges, new approaches are being developed to provide better ways of living with water in cities.
Alan Mossman is Managing Director of The Change Business Ltd, a lean design and construction consultancy. He is an occasional author and professor of lean construction at universities such as Loughborough and Nottingham Trent. If BIM is about technology, then lean is about the people who use that technology! Alan Mossman tells us about it today, through his favourite field, lean construction.
Operate your smartphone through thought; send a message or post a photo online without making any movement: are these practices worthy of a science fiction book in the process of becoming reality? In the future, will we have alternatives to the body for communicating with the outside world? This is the dream of the giants of the digital world who have thrown themselves enthusiastically into the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs).
BIM World is back on 28-29 March! And Bouygues Construction will be represented at this umbrella event for the digital transformation in construction, real estate, and urban planning; with the goal of leading way in the digital transformation of our industry.
Bouygues Construction and Centrale Lille recently inaugurated the Construction 4.0 Chair, a partnership that represents the culmination of a 15-year relationship widely supported by the region and city. Two theses are already in the works. We met with the PhD students behind them.
Stéphane Allaire, chairman of Objenious, tells us about the activities, positioning and the technology from this Bouygues Telecom start-up.
Reversible construction means anticipating from the programming and design stage to facilitate future transformations of a place. But why take on this challenge, and in practice, how?
