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.
A facility that can evolve to suit its users: this is Bouygues Construction’s design goal for the 2024 Aquatics Centre. This location will provide the best swimming conditions for sportsmen and sportswomen during the Games and other high level competitions, but will also adapt to the sporting needs of local inhabitants.
Following our series on FabLabs, those novel laboratories promoting creation and collaboration in support of an innovation ecosystem.
Geoffrey Tkaczuk, Works Supervisor with Brézillon, is leading the Echarde rehabilitation project in Compiègne and tells us about his positive experience alongside the site occupants
Although cities occupy a mere 2% of the surface of the planet, they consume 75% of its resources, emit between 60% and 80% of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and generate 50% of waste . Cities are a privileged gateway for the entry and exit of a large concentration of flows (food, electricity, cold, heat, fuel, consumer goods, waste, etc.) that enable them to meet the needs of their users: remember that cities today account for 55% of the world population. The study of these flows according to the principles of urban metabolism is a field that is growing in popularity. More and more urban authorities are using it as a basis for defining their circular economy policies.
Originating in the US, over the past decade coliving has rooted itself in the France’s urban landscape. This community living concept is contrary to the popular French proverb that says you’re better off with a tiny place of your own than with a big place that belongs to someone else.
What if, in the future, facial recognition technologies went into general use in our towns and buildings? In China where this is already happening, the increasing use of such technology in both public and private spaces raises the spectre of mass surveillance and the risk of new attacks on privacy. While the number of experiments is increasing around the world and certain American towns are already taking the lead in preventing its use, the debate is beginning to take shape in Europe.
At the request of Bouygues Construction and La République des Hyper Voisins, six students from the École Urbaine at Sciences Po Paris worked for nine months on creating conviviality in urban areas. The proposed exploration strategy is to create the conditions for conviviality by introducing a professionally-structured form of citizen action on a micro-local scale. Explore their recommendations for the forms of governance that are most conducive to the emergence of convivial spaces, based on eleven areas of investigation in France and Switzerland.
Matching Up has reached the three-year stage and more than ever the Bouygues Construction's open innovation programme aims to generate new ideas within the company, putting Group employees and start-ups in touch in order to design and create new projects together.
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).
