Circular economy in construction: the Gerland Stadium project in Lyons
Circular economy is becoming a reality in construction and engineering. The ‘Three Rs’—Reduce, Re-Use, and Recycle—and making beneficial use of waste are the crux of the matter. The garden project at the Gerland Stadium in Lyons is an example.
Work got under way near the Gerland Stadium (Lyons, France) in September 2018. Construction contractor Eiffage had been appointed by GL Events to build 6 office buildings with a total floor area of 26,000 m2 and an underground parking garage. The principle of circular economy is at the heart of the project. Vicat helps manage and recycle waste and delivers cement for the site batching plant.
Eiffage approached us for assistance in overcoming two separate problems prior to and during construction. The main objective of the operation was to implement the principle of circular economy in order to reduce the consumption of natural resources and to increase sorting, re-use, and repurposing of waste from the construction site.
During the excavation phase, we were in charge of recovering and repurposing contaminated soils, in conjunction with Serpol. Ten thousand tons of spoil are being disposed of beneficially at our Montalieu-Vercieu cement plant, which has been equipped with a storage, conveyance, and metering system that can feed waste into the kiln as alternative materials or fuels.
For the construction phase, Eiffage wished to continue down the road of circular economy. Locally manufactured CEM II 42.5R cement from the Montalieu plant has been chosen. Its special feature is that its manufacture involves repurposing of the spoil from the construction site. Eleven thousand cubic meters of C25/30 concrete will be produced in an on-site stationary batching plant, thereby keeping the supply chain short. The buildings are scheduled to be handed over at the end of 2019.
Our personnel in the Cement division and Vicat Circulère provided global and technical support services for the manufacture of a local cement and for management of the construction-site waste. This exemplary construction project demonstrates the value of the cement manufacturing process in a given area, i.e. associating industry and suppliers of short-supply-chain environmental services.
Ramzi Tabi, Eiffage’s procurement manager for major works nationwide:
« For the Les Jardins du Lou project, Vicat was the natural choice for cement. Two hundred years after it invented artificial cement, Vicat pays the greatest attention to the market and to environmental issues in order to offer high-quality cements best-suited to requirements. »
