Week of 14 October
1. High visit at Zayed National Museum (UAE)
In Abu Dhabi (UAE), H.H. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, visited the Zayed National Museum, which is currently under construction by BESIX Middle East. The visit was part of a broader tour of Saadiyat Island, which is becoming the new cultural hub of the United Arab Emirates.
Set for completion by the end of 2025, progress on the Zayed National Museum is well underway. Its iconic external design, shaped to resemble falcon feathers, is now finished, while the interior works are in the final stages of completion as well. Keep up the good work, BESIX Middle East!
P.S.: Can you spot Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the second museum our BESIX Middle East colleagues are building at Saadiyat Island, in the third picture?
2. Another 60 MW injected into the grid (Cameroon)
In Cameroon, the Nachtigal Hydropower Project is nearing its completion, reaching a 96.7% completion rate by the end of September. In addition, a significant milestone was achieved a few weeks ago, when a new part of the project became operational. Concretely, this means that the facility’s capacity increased by 60 MW, raising the total output to 180 MW. Excellent work, team Nachtigal!
This project involves Cameroon’s largest hydroelectric scheme, which includes a hydropower plant on the River Sanaga, a 1.5 km long dam, a supply canal, and water intake installations. Once fully operational, it will produce up to 420 MW of electricity each year, meeting 30 % of the country's energy needs.
3. First concrete pour for Corda Arena (Belgium)
Last week, Vanhout reached an important milestone in Hasselt (Belgium) as they poured the first concrete for the new state-of-the-art Corda Arena! Our colleagues are in charge of the design and build of this 10,000 m² digital experience arena, which is set to be the largest of its kind in continental Europe. With an expected opening in September 2025, this event hall should become the setting for next-generation corporate congresses, product shows, technology fairs, academic conferences and niche sports such as e-sports, chess or padel tournaments. Congratulations, Vanhout colleagues!
4. A new rising star at BESIX Engineering (Belgium)
"Never two without three" seems to be the perfect motto for Elisabeth Baret, one of our new colleagues at BESIX Engineering. Although she has only just graduated with a master's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Liège, she has already earned several awards. On 10 November 2024, she’ll receive the GBB’s (*) award for her thesis titled ‘Updating and improving the existing protocol to assess current (diagnosis) and future (prognosis) damage caused by the alkali-silica reaction’. This will be the third time Elisabeth wins a prize for her academic work. Previously, she received the Frank Goes’s Master’s Thesis Award 2023-2024 and the (RF)²B prize, awarded by the French-speaking organisation for research and development on concrete. What a bright young mind! Congratulations and welcome to our Group, Elisabeth!
(*) GBB stands for Groupement Belge du Béton (Eng.: Belgian Concrete Group), which aims to bring together everyone in Belgium interested in all aspects of concrete.
And then this… The beautiful ‘Faces of Triangle’ (France)
In Paris (France), we are currently building the third highest building of the city, Triangle. It will include offices, a health centre, a cultural centre, a crèche and even a hotel. Our client, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), recognises that every contribution to this ambitious undertaking is of the utmost importance and that valuing the work of everyone involved is essential to the success of this exceptional project. That’s why they are honouring the people behind the realisation of Triangle in their commercial documents under the section ‘Faces of Triangle’, and of course it contains various BESIX faces as well. Do you recognise some of our colleagues?
