Archipel business district
Located close to the European institutions, the new Archipel business district is a giant and ambitious project led by the City of Strasbourg to revitalise the territory. It will embody a modern Strasbourg, oriented towards the international, while anchoring itself in a city centre rich in history. Launched in 2016, the 4 hectare sized district will house the headquarters of leading companies, residential buildings, hotel complexes, local shops and a theatre.
HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Unibéton delivered more than 19,000 m3 of concrete between June 2016 and September 2018. "The Archipel project covers a total of 11,000 m2 of hotel and retail space, 41,000 m2 of offices and 17,000 m2 of residential buildings," explains Éric Muller, Unibéton sales manager for the Eastern region. At the heart of this complex, a large building called Linkcity will accommodate the new French headquarters of Adidas and the premises of Crédit Mutuel.
The initial challenge of the project was to ensure that the soil was sufficiently strong to accommodate the massive structure. To guarantee the stability of the complex, a huge 4,000 m3 concrete slab, made with ADDICEM 52.5 L PM-ES cement, was therefore poured.
"Delivered from the Unibéton plants in Strasbourg and Gambsheim, the concrete had to make its way to the city centre. An additional difficulty, this stage of the construction site coincided with the European fair, which transformed the city into an ant farm," Éric Muller points out. To meet the challenge, the company has chosen flexibility: three of the six casting phases, the largest of which reaches 1,200 m3, were carried out at night, thus avoiding crowds and traffic jams.
