Special Issue 2 – Regional Information France April 2014

The French Engineering Insurance Market was growing by 1% in 2011 and stable in 2012 with 384 mio Euro premium written. There is an erosion of the CAR premium, due to a decrease of the activities in the building segment and due to the economic situation. Machinery Breakdown remains the biggest part with 198 mio Euro followed by EAR and CAR business respectively 81 and 71 mio Euro premium written.

Competition increased strongly due to capacity available and the lack of projects. No change is expected in 2014. But the profitability of the engineering business is still positive.

Despite the lack of projects due to the economic situation, there are many large Engineering projects in France on-going. Here are some examples:

Some Large Projects in France

ITER ITER is the largest construction project currently in progress in France.

The project started more than 25 years ago when a group of industrial nations agreed on a project to develop a new, cleaner, sustainable source of energy.

ITER is a large-scale scientific experiment intended to prove the viability of fusion as an energy source, and to collect the data necessary for the design and subsequent operation of the first electricity-producing fusion power plant.

IMIA NEWS

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Artist’s view of the ITER scientific facility

IMIA will have the pleasure of presenting this project to you during the next conference in France.

Dunkerque LNG

Source : Dunkerque LNG Website

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Dunkerque LNG, a subsidiary of EDF (Electricité de France), is building a LNG import and regasification Terminal in the area of Dunkerque West harbour, in the North of France. This LNG Terminal is intended to allow EDF, already a large industrial consumer of natural gas, entering newly the French natural gas market as a supplier, the LNG Terminal being linked to the French natural gas transmission network of GRTgaz. The Project includes 3 LNG storage tanks each of 190,000 m3 net capacity, and process facilities with a nominal capacity of the around 13 billion m3 natural gas per year. Instead of using sea water to warm the LNG, EDF decided to use warmed seawater discharged from the Gravelines nuclear power station nearby. Therefore, the project includes a 5 km long cross harbour tunnel to bring the warm seawater from the power station to the LNG vaporisers of the terminal. Highspeed Railway lines

More than 30 years after the inaugural service between Paris and Lyon in 1981, France continues to expand its 2,000 km long high-speed railway network.

3 major high speed railway projects are currently under construction:

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Nimes Montpellier

This 60 km railway line will be the first railway in France designed for both high-speed passenger trains (300 km/h commercial speed) and freight trains. This project is being undertaken under a Public Private Partnership contract. The contractor is requested to finance, design, build and maintain the railway line during the 25 year PPP contract duration. This €1.2bn PPP contract has been awarded to OC’VIA, a special purpose company led by Bouygues Concessions. The main contractors involved in the design and construction phase are Bouygues Construction, Colas, Colas Rail, Alstom, Spie Batignolles, Systra and Setec. The construction period started in mid-2012 and the completion is scheduled for October 2017.

Le Mans - Rennes

The LGV Bretagne-Pays de Loire is a 182 km long high-speed rail line, running between Le Mans and Rennes. When completed, this new section will reduce the journey time from Paris to Rennes to less than one hour and thirty minutes. The contract is a PPP scheme which includes financing, design, construction and maintenance of the railway during a 25 years period. The total cost is put at €3.4bn, with funding agreed on 29 July 2008 between the various bodies involved. The French government will contribute €990m, equal to contributions from local government. The remaining €1.02bn comes from RFF, the French Rail Network owner. Eiffage Rail Express, a special purpose company controlled by Eiffage, won the PPP contract. Preliminary studies started in May 2011. Main construction works started during the autumn of 2012, and completion is expected in late 2016. This project represents a total of 26 million m3 of earthworks and more than 200 overpasses and underpasses.

Tours- Bordeaux

The LGV Sud Europe Atlantique (LGV SEA), also known as the LGV Sud-Ouest, is a 302 km long high-speed railway line, running between Tours and Bordeaux. When built, it will be used by TGV trains operated by SNCF, the French national railway company. The purpose of constructing the LGV SEA is to bring high-speed rail service to south-western France and connect this region with the high-speed rail service of Northern Europe. The trip between Paris and Bordeaux will take around two hours and ten minutes with a projected speed of 300 km/h. The inter-city links between Tours, Poitiers, Angoulême, and Bordeaux will also be improved and south-western France will be better connected to diverse parts of the country and the rest of Europe. The LGV SEA project is part of an ambitious regional development programme that will open up new rail lines to Limoges, Toulouse and Spain.

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The project is also a response to the heavy traffic on the existing rail line. The differences in speed between the high-speed TGV trains, which reach speeds of up to 220 km/h on the existing tracks, and the slower freight trains and regional trains, which share the same track, result in the need to greatly increase the interval between these trains. This creates highly congested tracks and prevents their most efficient usage. The concession contract was awarded by RFF, the French rail network owner, to LISEA, a company controlled by VINCI Concessions. With a total contract value of €5.2bn, it is one of the largest infrastructure contracts currently under way in Europe. Works started during the first half of 2012 and will last 73 months. The concession company’s remuneration will be in the form of fees from railway operators using the infrastructure.

French Ministry of Defence Buildings This building is dedicated to gather all armed forced staffs in the same group of buildings. This is the largest building project currently under construction in France.

The total contract value is around €800m and the works will last approximately 6 years.

135,000 m² of new buildings will be constructed and 145,000 m² of existing buildings will be rehabilitated as part of the project.

This project is undertaken under a Public Private Partnership contract. The contractor is a special purpose company called Opale Defense which is responsible for finance, design, building and maintaining the buildings during the 30 years PPP contract duration.

Expansion of La Defense Business District

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La Defense, Paris’ business district, is still expanding through the construction of several impressive environmentally high quality high-rise buildings.

D² Tower (Sogeprom - Société Générale): In contrast to the existing Agbar tower (Barcelona) and the 30 St Mary Axe tower (London), the steel exostructure of this tower has an ovoidal shape.

Architects : Anthony Béchu and Tom Sheehan Contractor : Vinci Construction Completion : end 2014 54,000 m² 171 m 37 floors

Majunga tower (Unibail Rodamco): This building is composed of three bands of differing thickness. It will include loggias forming voids in the double skin façade.

Architects: Jean-Paul Viguier Contractor: Eiffage Completion: end 2014 Floor area 54,000 m² 175 m 47 floors

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Majunga tower

Hermitage Plaza (Hermitage Group)

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Hermitage Plaza will be an innovative mixed-use project at the entrance of La Defense in Paris, and is situated across the Seine River from the residential district of Neuilly-Paris, which will bring together programmes of luxury serviced apartments, a 5-Star palace hotel, class-A offices, high-end retail, and the public and entertainment space.

Architects: Norman Foster Contractor: to be advised Completion: 2018 Floor area 250,000 m² 320 m 86 floors

And several others are about to come in the near future.

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