The new Saint-Gobain head office, an IGH like no other
Batirama.com 09/26/20180The new headquarters of the Saint-Gobain construction group will welcome from the 2nd half of 2019, 2,700 employees on 38 floors (44 levels in total) in La Défense.Back on "unpublished" technical choices.
Presentation of the Saint Gobain tower by the teams of Saint-Gobain, Vinci Construction and Generali.From left to right: Marc Guerpin (Vinci Construction), Hervé Biancarelli (Saint-Gobain), Jean-Marc Pascard (Generali) and Régis Bluen (Saint-Gobain)."This is one of the largest real estate projects in Europe, according to Jean-Marc Pascard, Director of Project Management of Generali Real Estate France, who estimates the cost of the operation" of the order of 300 millioneuros ".© F.Leroy
The 1,500 employees present at the head office of Saint-Gobain (Les Mirroirs) will soon bow down, to join their new workspaces ... 50 m from their old offices.By the way, the number of employees will almost double with 2,700 people present in the brand new premises of this high -rise building (IGH) on an area of 49,000 m2.
The management teams of the other subsidiaries of the group, now scattered in the Paris region (Suresnes to ISOVER and PLACO, the 19th arrondissement of Paris for the distribution branch of the group -Point- P- and Servon (77) for Weber) will joinIndeed their colleagues in La Défense.
Note that the support teams of the distribution subsidiary or that of Weber will continue to work in their old offices.Thus, approximately 1000 people will remain in the 19th arrondissement (headquarters of the Point Group.P), while 500 employees from HR, Finance, Marketing and General Directorate will grow the workforce of the Defense Headquarters.At Weber, a hundred people will stay in the premises in Seine-et-Marne.
La tour (à droite) conçue par Valode & Pistre est composée de trois parties, un pied, un corps et une tête qui se penche « en signe d’accueil et de bienvenue ».A glass or "crystals" assembly alternately manufactures transparency or reflection, according to the project promoters. ©DR Valode & Pistre architectes
Transversality and dynamic environment
The construction of the new building, started in 2016, is an illustration of the brand's multi-confidence concept, coupled with an environmentally friendly strategy.The building should also benefit from a triple environmental certification: NF HQE associated with Effinergie+certification, Breaam (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) and American certification Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
In this regard, note that the former siege of mirrors built in the early 1980s no longer responded to current construction standards or the new “codes” of management of a large international group such as it (more than 40billions of turnover in total, a presence in 67 countries and more than 179,000 employees).
"The way of work has changed today," explains the Director of Human Resources France in Saint-Gobain, Régis Blugeon.The work teams are more reactive and physically close to promote efficiency through transversality ".The collaborative mode will therefore be largely privileged and applied at all levels and functions of the company.
Installed in openspace, all the managerial teams, grouped by marks or functions will have to learn to work together, "while respecting each other", underlines Régis Blugeon which specifies that "the collective office spaces will bring together teams of 15to 20 people ".The manager also organizes quarterly webconferences from future occupants to explain the progress of the project to them.
Adjacent meeting spaces, some of which are equipped with glazing of the private (blackout) brand will however ensure the confidentiality of certain exchanges.In order to ensure the comfort of employees, their employer has staged some 80 materials and solutions of the group whose glazing, thermal and acoustic insulation, or even the group's latest generation partitions (see below)
Another characteristic: the omnipresence and on all stages of green spaces (spaces where it will not be possible to smoke, the tower being "non-smoking").Note greenhouses largely wooded at the foot and head of the tower.© F.Leroy
Concrete poured in place without carrier beam
The tower was imagined as a stack of three glass prisms, (over 165 m total height) including the last one, a "crystal" of 8 -storey glass and 40 m in height caps the top of the tower in the door.Marc Guerpin, Director of major projects within Vinci Construction, via his bateg subsidiary, evokes unpublished technical choices in the face of the complexity of the work due in part to a dense and urban environment.
First of all, the floor is made with prestressed concrete by post tension, a process that makes it possible to compress the concrete by tense cables between the two ends of a slab.Advantage: the technique guarantees the modularity and flexibility of the structure, removing "bulky carrier beams which would have complicated the construction of the building" explains the manager of Vinci Construction.An operation source of time saving, still rare in France, but frequently used in Asia and Middle East according to the specialist.
Another technical choice retained by the company to make the core of the tower: a so-called traditional construction method, that is to say, floor upstairs with banches, without self-group (which are complex tools often mounted onhydraulic cylinders which ensure the formwork).
This method coupled with the completion of the floor makes it possible to provide more scheduling in the management of the site and "optimizes production by avoiding the lag of teams that carry out the floor and the nucleus, while securing the work of employees" specifies MarcGuerpin.It takes 6 days to carry out the structural work of a level, with these working methods.
6 days will be necessary to carry out the structural work of a level, according to a so -called traditional method, floor upstairs and using a floor made of prestressed concrete by post tension, without beam beam.© F.Leroy
21 weeks to make a complete floor
After this stage of the structural work, the teams on site (between 400 and 550 people maximum per day) carry out the technical networks then the installation of the facades (6 days for the installation of the facades).Added to this is the laying of the ceilings and the flows of technical floors which include many computer, electric and networks wiring.
The last step is to carry out the implementation of coatings and finishes.The realization of a complete floor therefore requires 21 weeks of work, according to the director major projects of Vinci Construction.
This schedule which is characterized by a chain of tasks all trades as close as possible to the production of the structural work is based on an organization of half-day work and in the quarter platform."Each week all of the operations chiefs meet and make a schedule on the basis of a" week minus 1 "to manage coactivity on the tower levels" specifies Marc Guerpin.
Some 6 days are necessary to install the facade on a level.© Saint-Gobain FFB UMGO
A Full BIM project
The Vinci Construction and Saint-Gobain teams carried out the construction project in Full BIM (Building Information Modeling), which means that the digital model was integrated from the design of the work and deployed to make allworks."It is above all a new way of working that has been beneficial, due to the strongest and most complex issue, represented here by the head of the tower," said the director major projects of Vinci Construction
Another advantage of BIM, the reliability of production thanks to the possibility for teams to have real -time information.The teams were thus able to assess any difficulties from the start (thanks to the building cutting schemes on demand) and ensure quality self -checks before reception.
A noter que les équipes de R&D du Saint Gobain et de Glasssolutions ont utilisé la maquette de l’architecte pour développer la physico-réalité.They have designed in particular a new software which made it possible to model the facade and to simulate the realistic rendering of the glazing.A tool that allowed the architect to arbitrate the choice of glass of the facade glass.
The head of the tower will receive glazing weighing up to 800 kg for a height exceeding 4 meters.Which involves deploying a metal frame with bi-meters 30 m in height.©Valode& Pistres
The 80 Solutions of Saint-Gobain
Glazing, insulation, air quality, safety ... were treated with the latest technologies developed by the Subsidiaries of Saint-Gobain.Thus, in terms of glazing, Sageglass, a glazing which is tinted or clarified automatically according to the external conditions will dress the head of the tower.
The facade of the body of the tower, it will consist of the association of different glazing: outside, a simple solar control glazing will bring visual comfort to the occupants of the.
Inside, a double glazing with low emissivity (integrating an acoustic laminated glass) will limit heat losses to the outside by ensuring good thermal insulation.Finally, an internal blind system may reduce solar intake.A glass system stapled on the base and the head of the tower, will have the effect of increasing the brightness and intensifying the printing of lightness.
In the toilets, note screen printing and aesthetic glazing on which are based mirrors made without toxic substance contributing to the maintenance of healthy air, indicates Saint-Gobain.© F.Leroy
Maximum insulation to promote thermal comfort
To ensure thermal comfort of the building, flat -meter ceilings ensuring heating and radiation cooling will be implemented on offices of the offices.System interest: their homogeneous temperature is associated with low air movements.
We also note as thermal comfort the use of Eurocoustic coatwool coatwool wool, another subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, projected on slabs or floors of the floors, displaying a low certified thermal conductivity.
In terms of acoustic comfort, the Ecophon ceilings with a boiling of sailing and mineral wool reducing the phenomenon of reverberation, and caps of a plasterboard, will offer good working conditions to employees in open space, assures the group.
Finally, another type of comfort, and not the least, visual comfort thanks to the implementation of Weber decorative floors largely poured on a heated floor with a fiberglass acoustic underlay reducing impact noise.
To close this list of solutions that are too long to list entirely, note the use of plaster plates and Placo Decorative Ceiling with Activ’Air technology.They capture and transform formaldehyde, polluting indoor air from furniture (treated wood, paint, glues) in an internal compound in the ambient air.
Vinci Construction is currently carrying out 4 major projects in the defense sector: the Saint-Gobain tower, the Trinity tower, the Hekla tower-as a start-up phase that the new Eole cathedral station under the CNIT (extension of the lineE).Finally, the group builds its new head office above the future Nanterre station...© F.Leroy
Source: Batirama.com / FabienneLeroy
