Saint-Cirq-Lapopie: paving the streets
The history of the village of Saint Cirq Lapopie, which has retained all its medieval glory, dates back more than 2000 years. It has been recognized as one of the most attractive towns in France, something that draws more than 700,000 visitors every year. For renovation work, Vicat personnel in charge of Prompt natural quick-setting cement was called upon to come up with a sustainable solution for jointing the new stone paving throughout the village.
At the end of 2017, stone-paving specialist Occitanie Pierres set to work on a makeover of the streets of Saint Cirq Lapopie.
Vicat brought its knowledge to bear on the project, to meet the need for jointing paving stones covering a total area of 5,000 m² of village streets.
Our teams in charge of Vicat’s Prompt natural quick-setting cement rose to the task and came up with a solution for returning the streets and squares to users quickly while still ensuring the strength and durability of the jointing mortar.
This involved making the best use of a natural product that is ideally suited to built-heritage projects: a mortar based on Vicat’s Prompt natural quick-setting cement. Another advantage is the favorable aesthetics of this cement whose ocher coloring is similar to that of the natural stone used. The wet-grouting method used produced exactly what the town authorities expected of the renovation.
What made the paving such a success was the synergy between the different parties involved. Our Prompt natural quick-setting cement team worked hand-in-hand with our customer, Occitanie Pierres, and the project owner, the municipality of Saint Cirq Lapopie.
For more information about Vicat’s Prompt natural quick-setting cement
700,000
visitors pear year
5,000
square meters of village paving
35
tons of Prompt natural quick-setting cement
“For this exceptional renovation project in the favorite village of everyone in France, and with a duty to respect the built-heritage of this historic place, we had to surmount a number of major technical and aesthetic issues. We quite naturally turned to Vicat to seek expert assistance in meeting the specifications of the project. As a result we were able to pave the streets in a manner befitting the site with natural, durable Vicat jointing that was perfect for our stone paver layouts.”
Joël Bertrand, Manager, Occitanie Pierres
