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.
At last, an end to meetingitis and email addiction. This tool facilitates the management of meetings and follow-up in businesses. Bouygues Construction’s new partner is Perfony, a software program that makes everyone’s life easier at work.
After "Wizom Connected", Bouygues Construction's connected housing solution, the group is now launching an adaptable housing offer called "Wizom for Life". Presented during a trade show for mayors from the Paris region, it rounds out the Wizom housing offer and paves the way for a more flexible and modular home.
Applying the principles of the circular economy to the city, circular urbanism advocates a change of approach to build the city on itself and make better use of existing assets and resources in the process of urban design. This is a matter of urgency in the context of climate change, resource scarcity and the critical fragility of the ecosystems from which the materials are taken. According to Sylvain Grisot, author of a manifesto on the subject, recycling spaces, transforming the existing while avoiding deconstruction, and intensifying the uses of spaces are the three golden rules to adopt in order to radically change our methods. Among the many possible tools, let’s explore the dismantlability of buildings: what is a dismantlable building, how should it be designed and for what purpose?
Eleven tonnes of CO2 per year: this is the carbon footprint of a household in France. Given that housing and mobility contribute equally to more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions, it is vitally important to combine the efforts of the construction and mobility sectors. Working within the SBA (Smart Buildings Alliance), the R2S 4 Mobility commission, coordinated by Claude Ricaud – a consultant at the GIMELEC consortium of companies in the electro-digital sector – is striving to achieve this goal.
The arrival of the French regulation RE 2020 brings the goal of decarbonised cities even closer. The major new feature of this climate and energy package consists in not only considering energy savings at the level of every new construction, but also in including the carbon footprint in the various impact measures linked to these sites. This approach will not only allow us to transform our construction practices, but will also transform the way in which inhabitants in the future could take ownership of and live in their homes and the wider local area. So, what changes are coming? What are the possible impacts for the construction industry right now? And how will the way in which we live have to change?
Following our series on FabLabs, those novel laboratories promoting creation and collaboration in support of an innovation ecosystem.
Plan BIM 2022, recently launched by Julien Denormandie, minister for Housing and Town Planning, aims to speed up the implementation of the BIM. Funding of 10 million euros has been allocated to the construction sector, SMEs in particular. So what role will big construction companies play in this?
"The most functional smart city in the world. " Helsinki's ambition is a mighty one... but has real potential. The Finnish capital wants to align new technologies with usages suited to the lives of its residents.
Imagine it is 2050 in Ile-de-France. The effects of environmental disturbances and the reduction of energy resources have led to a profound transformation in the organisation of the region and life as it unfolds there. Half as many residents, virtually no automobiles, which have given way to low-tech transportation...plus local solidarity initiatives, breathable air and stronger ties to nature and biological rhythms. That is the revolutionary scenario described by Institut Momentum, a think tank specialising in degrowth, in its report Bioregions 2050.
