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.
Central Lille welcomes the 5th edition of the ACE Workshop which brings together world experts in construction of the future. The Construction Chair 4.0, created by Bouygues Construction and Centrale Lille in 2017, will benefit from this event. Interview with Prof. Lafhaj, holder of the chair.
Whether you call it a smart city, a connected city or, even better, a smart region, digitalisation is primarily all about improving and offering new services to citizens and then to the persons behind local policies in order to allow them to run the city more effectively.
Regeneration is on the rise, in particular in the context of social housing. All over France, priority neighbourhoods are being revamped. The goal is to provide more comfort to inhabitants while reducing the energy consumption of their homes. This reduction has been challenged by the France Relance plan. The plan requires that social housing reach at least class D in the Energy Performance Diagnosis (DPE, acronym in French) and be awarded at least two labels. With new environmental challenges and new expectations from inhabitants today, the link between regeneration, energy saving and comfort has never been this clear... And not just for social housing!
Alexandre Bouvry, CATALPA Project Director at Bouygues Entreprises France-Europe, tells us about a sustainable wood-frame modular project that's being built for the French Defence Infrastructure Service.
The year is 2032 and a billionaire media mogul writes a shocking book about making a fortune in under a decade by solely investing in virtual real estate and ultimately becoming one of the largest property owners in the Metaverse. He makes his fortune from the capital gains on reselling his virtual properties and from renting out his best positioned plots in these alternative worlds. The virtual property programmes that are set up there involve the best meta-space designers to create striking meta-architectural experiences. Is this fiction or a future reality?
Transforming waste into resources: when the circular economy disrupts our growth models and the way we consume and produce goods. Bouygues Construction is fully committed to acting as a responsible and committed industry player.
Maud Bougerol, Environment Manager and Ecological Works Supervisor for the offshore urban extension project in Monaco at Bouygues Travaux Publics, tells us about the actions led to promote biodiversity within the framework of the project.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way industry professionals approach their day-to-day work. This is for good reason as the potential benefits of AI are numerous, from reducing costs to improved project quality and better management of resources. In which areas, however, is it already being used reliably? How can its use save time for professionals? Can AI and humans work together without making mistakes? What could be the benefits of using this type of tool? What better way to answer these questions than to interview an industry professional (Thiebault Clément, R&D Director at Bouygues Construction) and a form of artificial intelligence which has been in the news for several weeks (ChatGPT*).
