Circular economy

The daily challenge faced by teams from Bouygues Construction is to build iconic projects whilst reducing the impact on resources and the production of waste. As a result, the Group is committed to using more efficient and sustainable resource management, using renewable resources, producing less waste and ensuring that this waste is recyclable. The challenge is to move away from established practices and open the door to developing a range of innovative construction solutions.

For Sustainable and Responsible Construction

This undertaking, which tackles both challenges of sustainability and competitiveness, is aimed at preserving the resources at the heart of the Group’s identity and make these values a part of daily life. To this end, the Group is supporting its employees and mobilising the entire construction value chain in order to save resources or opt for more sustainable resources, to devote buildings to new uses and dismantle them in order to be able to reuse the materials or recycle them into new raw materials. 

58 %

of non-hazardous waste reused by Bouygues Construction across the world.

80 %

of non-hazardous waste is recovered as material in France (French Environment Code, Article L.541-1, paragraph 6, which imposes a minimum material reuse threshold of 70% for construction waste).

Discover our best solutions

The ‘Maillerie’ project, led by Bouygues Bâtiment Nord-Est and LinkCity, aims to reuse the resources already on site by using an approach of selective demolition. The partnership established with interdependent associations, start-ups in the circular economy and manufacturers has enabled the reuse and recycling of various elements from the demolition of a former logistics site. 
30,000 tonnes of concrete and 8,000 m² of solid oak wooden flooring have been salvaged from the former site and reused.

 
A WASTE-FREE CONSTRUCTION SITE

The research & development work carried out by the Group aims to remove obstacles from the circular economy by changing the ways in which we operate.  The ideas developed on zero-waste new constructions and selective demolition were tested in practice on our Auguste Renoir project in Nantes and are testing in the Bagneux Mathurins project, producing methodologies that can be rolled out across the entire Group. 
Research and Development at the heart of solutions

Bouygues Energies & Services develops solutions for the electrical connection of wind farms and solar parks. For example, one solution of burying the cables without laying a sand backfill was tested during the installation of the Champagne Picardie wind farm, meaning less of this resource needed to be used and less earth needed to be moved. Using this type of reinforced cable allows a saving of 175 m3 of sand per km of trench. 
BOUYGUES ENERGIES & SERVICES

Thanks to Office Switch Home, the fruit of the collaboration between several research & development teams within Bouygues Construction, buildings can change their intended purpose easily and thus become more future-proof. WORK#1 in Lyon was designed to be able to switch from its initial purpose as an office to a residential building in the event of a change in requirements in its neighbourhood. 
Office Switch Home

Elan, a subsidiary of Bouygues Bâtiment Ile-de-France and a property consulting firm that provides added value, offers a circular economy consulting service for any companies looking to roll out this model internally. 
ELAN