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ROUTES Colas Group magazine number 24 - January 2010 En route United Kingdom MAC: a success story Mette RishØj “Road up” 2009 ROUTES No. 24 – January 2010 www.fondationcolas.com 1133757.GRP.indd33757.GRP.indd 1 222/12/092/12/09 11:56:2211:56:22 CONTENTS NUMBER 24 – JANUARY 2010 site-seeing crossroads 04 > From French Guiana to Canada via France 60 > Major projects, subsidiary life, production and Thailand…, a rapid trip around the world in sites… A look at six months of Group life. words and pictures to see Colas jobsites, work in progress and finished projects. in the picture 76 > Trade fairs, awards ceremonies, viewings… Some en route images of the Group’s events, in France and abroad. 28 > Hungary: M6-M60, the road to success. 36 > United Kingdom: Colas Ltd, the market colas on stage leader for MAC contracts. 86 > Colas expands the scope of its corporate itineraries patronage. 44 > They all do their jobs with enthusiasm intersections and have decided to share their daily routine 90 > Gautier Capuçon: “Talent is worthless and projects with us. Portraits. without hard work”. 92 > Michel Maffesoli: “We need to pay more dossier attention to the imaginary”. 54 > When Somaro becomes Aximum… 94 > Mette Rishøj: “Roads are symbolic of human energy”. Cover photo: the Royal Guard in front of Buckingham Palace, in London. 1133373.GRP.indd33373.GRP.indd 2 222/12/092/12/09 12:03:1312:03:13 editorial 03 by Hervé Le Bouc Staying on course s anticipated, years of steady growth Similarly, the global recession affected businesses to for Colas came to a grinding halt in the varying degrees: waterproofing acquitted itself well, A choppy waters of 2009. But despite as did railways, while roads, safety and signaling as this we managed to stay on course. well as pipes and mains posted slight falls. The year saw markets declining significantly and So what does 2010 have in store for us? revenue of around !11.7 billion represents a fall of nearly 9% compared to the record year we had in Despite the fact that work on hand at the end of 2008. Stimulus plans didn’t live up to expectations, 2009 was slightly higher than it was at the end of substitution and offset effects occurred, private 2008, 2010 may well be even more difficult than investments fell back sharply, major projects came 2009. How can we be confident that the crisis is to an end with nothing to follow on behind, winter behind us and that renewed growth will follow in the weather conditions were poor, and competition was wake of stimulus plans by the middle of the year, fiercer than ever. And let’s not forget the negative carrying us through to the major projects of 2011? effect of tumbling bitumen prices on revenue. In It’s true that we’ve had some great successes in the all our geographic zones, subsidiaries focused on field with PPPs, but many uncertainties remain. It’s profitability rather than volume: a prudent strategy up to each and every one of us to remain vigilant that has paid off given the intensity of the crisis and proactive in a number of areas: improvements affecting our businesses. to our organization, productivity, marketing, employee recruitment and management, optimization of our So a turbulent year, yet one that was full of contrasts business ‘mix’, reinforcement of energy savings depending on the country and business in question. initiatives, promotion of recycling and warm mix North America, Asia and Africa held up well. Things techniques, etc. were more difficult in France and northern Europe, as well as the Indian Ocean and the West Indies. As We must draw on the strengths that form the for central Europe, the crisis showed little mercy. Group’s lifeblood in everything we do: our wealth and diversity of talent, our capacity for innovation, our powerful industrial tool, our network solidarity, synergies between businesses and our responsible development strategy. This drive for ethical, economic, social and environmental excellence will ultimately enable us to steer a steady course through the difficulties we face. And when markets do begin to grow again, Colas will be ready to provide the major transport infrastructures that are required throughout the world. “The road is hard but it is beautiful”(Charles de Gaulle) ROUTES No. 24 – January 2010 1133374.GRP.indd33374.GRP.indd 3 222/12/092/12/09 12:05:0512:05:05 04 site-seeing From French Guiana to Canada Canada United Kingdom > France via France and Thailand…, Morocco Mayotte Thailand a rapid trip around the world in words French Guiana Mauritius and pictures to see the Group’s jobsites, Reunion Island work in progress and finished projects. FRANCE A 41 South: a very hushed premiere Teams from Colas Rhône-Alpes’ two-kilometer stretch of highway to date in France. Noise mea- Grenoble profit center were A41 South on the approach surements and impact studies the first in the region to use to Grenoble. The idea was will be carried out to assess the the Group’s latest generation to provide a radical solution acoustic efficiency of Nanosoft® of noise-reducing surfacing: to the noise pollution suffered over the course of time. The results Nanosoft®. Chosen by AREA by residents caused by heavy will be used to make comparisons (the Rhône-Alpes highway traffic. The work – all performed with other products commonly management company), at night – involved a 25,000-m2 used on freeways.< this pioneering asphalt mix section of roadway, which is was applied over the final the biggest Nanosoft® project ROUTES No. 24 – January 2010 !!""#"$%&'(%)*++,,,-""#"$%&'(%)*++,,,- ###.!#./0,,,!#1!-1!2#.!#./0,,,!#1!-1!2 FRANCE The Pôle Solère in Lyon: Smac in the sun Located at the heart of the Porte des Alpes Technology Park in Lyon, France, the Pôle Solère is a unique center of excellence in France in the field of new environmental building technologies. Smac teams based in Vénissieux carried out the waterproofing and roof work on this certified positive energy building. Of particular interest are the photovoltaic panels on the terraces. 1133237.GRP.indd33237.GRP.indd 5 222/12/092/12/09 12:14:4312:14:43 06 site-seeing FRANCE Beauvais: airport express In June, teams from Sacer Paris- problem in the region, often of 100,000 m3 of earthworks Nord-Est and Screg Nord- forcing airlines to re-route planes and 110,000 m2 of planing Picardie resurfaced the runway to other airports, or even cancel work, and the application at Beauvais-Tillé Airport flights altogether. Since ILS3 of 20,000 tons of aggregates – all 2,450 m of it – in a record requires a perfectly level surface, and 40,000 tons of asphalt mix time of just six days and teams completely redesigned (applied at a rate of 750 tons seven nights. The work was the wearing course and filled per hour). An exceptional project part of a wider project to bring in a slight dip located in the for an airport that is aiming the airport up to required middle of the runway. Four to double its capacity over the standards and to install ILS 3 hundred people worked in shifts, next few years.< (Instrument Landing System 3), day and night, to complete used to help aircraft land even the project on schedule. The in poor visibility. Fog is a common operations themselves consisted ROUTES N° 200 –m ojaisn vaienrn é2e007 1133234.GRP.indd33234.GRP.indd 6 222/12/092/12/09 12:24:3112:24:31 site-seeing 07 FRANCE Saint-Renan: on their marks! Opened in September, the new stadium in Saint-Renan (Brittany) is the only one in France with a synthetic athletics track that meets the French Athletics Federation’s new 2009 standards. The work – which had to meet the very highest quality specifications – was performed by teams from Screg Ouest in Brest. FRANCE Normandy: roads go green Colas Ile-de-France-Normandie’s Devaux Saint-Lô and Lasnon profit centers now use Vegeflux R® surface dressings to maintain secondary roads in the La Manche area of France. Particularly well suited to roads that bear only small to moderate volumes of traffic, the plant-based fluxing agent, Vegeflux R® is a more environmentally-friendly product as it reduces the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and odors during application. Vegeflux R® surface dressings also help roadways last longer, providing a watertight surface and uniform roughness for better skid-resistance. In 2009, 500,000 m2 of road surface were renovated using the product in the region.< ROUTES No. 24 – January 2010 1133234.GRP.indd33234.GRP.indd 7 222/12/092/12/09 12:24:5812:24:58 08 site-seeing MAYOTTE Port of Longoni: an exceptional project The container pier extension at technical wizardry of the highest got its final touches when 22,000 tons the Port of Longoni in Mayotte order: 197 steel piles had to be of asphalt mix were applied to is exceptional on many fronts. driven into the ground to a depth the site’s 11 acres of platforms Launched in early May 2006, the of 40 meters to form the and roadways. Teams had to deal work took place in several stages foundations for the superstructure. with a number of major problems for final delivery in March 2009. The civil engineering phase came throughout the course of the project: Teams from Colas Mayotte began to an end in January 2009 with when tropical storm Fame swept by constructing the breakwaters. the pouring of concrete across the through the area, for example, it took They then had to dredge the surface of the pier to create the with it a section of the breakwater dock in order to increase the subfloor and the building of the that was under construction at the draught and fill the apron of the fenders and equipment that would time.