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.
Bouygues Construction and Centrale Lille formed Chaire Construction 4.0 in 2017. Its aim was to support the digitisation and industrialisation of the sector. Thomas Danel, a PhD student in this field, has been working on a prototype for a remote-controlled crane. He talked to us about his project.
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?
(Français) Face à l’augmentation du nombre de seniors dans nos sociétés et à l’évolution de leur style de vie, il est nécessaire de repenser notre vision de l’habitat pour concevoir des logements qui répondent à leurs nouvelles attentes. Retrouvez les propositions de notre think tank, parrainé par le sociologue Serge Guérin, pour contribuer au bien vieillir à domicile.
Whether in the interests of comfortable living or to reduce energy consumption in homes, connectivity is increasingly present both in individual housing and multi-unit buildings. An advantageous transformation that might well lead to the embedding of certain technologies in all new housing.
Buses, underground systems, trams, car-sharing or short-term rental cars, car-pooling, mini-cab services, bikes, mopeds and self-service scooters, with or without stations: with the proliferation of forms of mobility, the residents of major cities have never had so many means of travel available to them.
Aude Launay, an intrapreneur supported by the Bouygues Group, talks us through the Flexy Moov concept.
Improving working conditions on sites with a system combining robotics and virtual reality. This is far from a fairy tale - this research and development programme will come into effect in 2020. The aim is to train employees to pick up the right habits, via a process that is both visual and tactile.
Bouygues Construction was one of the first construction companies to focus on innovation, and more particularly, open innovation. The group has created a dedicated team which works with our long-standing partner: Impulse Partners. We are now renewing that collaboration to reinforce Bouygues Construction's involvement with startups. Decryption.
Purchase housing without paying for the land it stands on. Savings of between 20 and 50% are now possible thanks to the French “bail réel solidaire” leasehold arrangement provided for by the ALUR law and specified late last year by the ELAN law
