Week of 30 May
1. A marine milestone for the Harbour City (Australia)
In Sydney, BESIX Watpac has installed the new North Sydney ferry terminal, a first major milestone of the Ferry Wharves Upgrade project. The terminal includes a 168-tonne floating pontoon and its final fit-out is now underway, with handover in June. This is only the first of six ferry terminals that BESIX Watpac is upgrading. This project is also symbolic of the integration of new expertise by BESIX Watpac, in this case in the field of marine works, for which this is one of the very first contracts. Congratulations to all teams. We look forward to following the progress of this work in the coming months.
2. High-level ministerial visits (Belgium)
Two of the Group's construction sites have received high-level ministerial visits in recent days. Both are fine examples of the expertise of the Group and its specialised contractors.
- In Ghent, BESIX Unitec is responsible for works at the North Sea port marshalling yard, including the renewal of the signalling system along two important railway lines. The port is subject to major investments by the federal government and Infrabel, the railway network manager, to improve access to the terminals. The infrastructure work has taken three years and is nearing completion. This explains the visit of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Federal Minister for Mobility Georges Gilkinet, accompanied by the CEOs of North Sea Port and Infrabel. Kudos to our colleagues at BESIX Unitec for this great work.
- On the Brussels ring, the Flemish Minister for Mobility was present at the inauguration of the Fietsostrade bridge. Built by BESIX and BESIX Infra, it was the missing link in the cycling highway between Brussels and Leuven. As a reminder, the bridge was installed at the beginning of the year. The installation of each section required a very short closure of the Brussels ring road, one of the busiest roads in the country, each time in the middle of the night from Saturday to Sunday. Now we strongly encourage our fellow cyclists from Brussels and Brabant to follow the minister’s example and take a ride there.
3. Now we say Annie Cordy (Belgium)
Sunday 22 May saw the official inauguration of Belgium's longest tunnel, 2.6 kilometres long, renovated by BESIX and its partners. Formerly known as the Leopold II Tunnel, it is now officially called the Annie Cordy Tunnel, after the Brussels singer and actress who had a particularly successful career, especially in France, from the 1950s until her death in 2020. On Sunday 22 May, the regional authorities and the public celebrated and visited the renovated tunnel. In addition to construction, BESIX and its partners are responsible for the maintenance for a period of 25 years.
4. Neanex officially on the radar (European Union)
Neanex has entered the European Commission's Innovation Radar and is identified as one of the three key innovators in the SPHERE project, one of the strands of the Horizon 2050 strategy. In particular, SPHERE focuses on improving and optimising the design, construction, performance and energy management of buildings, while reducing construction costs and their environmental impact. The Innovation Radar is an initiative of the European Commission to identify innovations and innovators with high potential and is an important signal to the market that a technology is ready and that the market is also ready to adopt it.
Congratulations to our colleagues at Neanex. Neanex, in which BESIX has been a shareholder since 2019, offers a single, easy-to-use portal that provides access to all data and information relating to a building or infrastructure, over its total life-cycle. Neanex shows that data driven asset insights can lead to a sustainable built & urban environment.
And then this… Radio Kroeto (Belgium-Ukraine)
“Your home away from home”, says its slogan. Radio Kroeto* is a temporary radio in Belgium, dedicated to Dutch-speaking schoolchildren and Ukrainian refugee children hosted in Dutch-speaking families. The broadcasts take place evert Wednesday afternoons and are bilingual Dutch-Ukrainian. The broadcasts aim to improve the integration of young war refugees in their new environment. You know the concept of this radio, as it is developed by the same company that helped us set up BESIX Radio last February - and we happily promised them we’ll talk to you about their initiative! Do your children speak Dutch or Ukrainian? They are welcome to participate to the next broadcasts! Do not hesitate to discover this initiative, via the Radio Kroeto website.
*Kroeto means ‘cool’ in Ukrainian
