Week of 4 April
1. On the French Riviera coastline (France)
The construction site of BESIX France in Nice is slowly coming to an end. The Nice Airport Promenade is the flagship project of the city's new business district, the Grand Arénas. Two of the three buildings have already been delivered to the client: the residential part in July 2021 and the office part in January 2022. That leaves the hotel, where the interior fittings are underway for a planned opening before the middle of the year. Below are images of the office building. This magnificent development, designed by American architects Arquitectonica, is located just a stone's throw from Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport and the Promenade des Anglais. Challenges included the proximity of the airport's Terminal 1, which required constraints on the positioning of the cranes. Accessibility to the site was also limited, not least because of the adjacent tramway line. Congratulations to all our teams on site, the result is amazing!
2. The Waste-to-Energy financing scheme collects awards (UAE)
IJ Global, a leading specialist in project finance, has awarded the Dubai Waste-to-Energy project financing its 2021 Award in the Export Finance category for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Our colleague Peter Lembrechts, Head of Concessions & Assets in the Middle East, attended the ceremony in Dubai. IJGlobal awarded the prize for the ability of BESIX, HZI and Dubai Municipality to mobilise foreign financial institutions, particularly Japanese ones, adding that the project is “excelling on so many levels”. “[…] a breakthrough project for the Government of Dubai in terms of PPP procurement […] This successful financing should open the door to a plethora of new PPP projects and initiatives in the UAE […]”. This is the second major award for the Dubai Waste-to-Energy financing scheme in recent months. Congratulations to all our colleagues who contributed to making it happen.
Our colleague Peter Lembrechts (third from left) proudly receives the award.
3. BESIX Watpac welcomes the next generation of Indigenous workers (Australia)
Seven Aboriginal High School students are joining the Sydney Barangaroo Station project through a partnership that BESIX Watpac embarked upon to empower Aboriginal youth through career pathways in building and construction. The students will gain hands-on experience in skills such as carpentry, concreting, masonry, scaffolding and electrical engineering, giving them a solid start to a rewarding career in the construction industry. These students will join 49 other people on the Barangaroo Station project who identify as Indigenous, ranging from our most senior managers to new recruits. Diversity in action!
4. Get up, Stand up …for the rights of our migrant colleagues (Qatar)
Last week, BESIX Group's Chief People Officer, Geert Aelbrecht, was in Doha to participate as a speaker at the Migrant Workers' Rights Conference. This international event was organized by the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), a global union federation of 351 unions from 127 countries. One of the aims of the conference was to share the lessons learned from BWI's commitment to improving the working and living conditions of migrant workers in Qatar. BESIX Group was a speaker because we have been working hand in hand with the BWI since 2017 and the signing of an international framework agreement (more information about this is available here). As other personalities and organisations have done on several occasions, including Amnesty Belgium, BWI frequently cites BESIX Group as the example to follow in terms of respect and promotion for human rights in the Middle East construction sector.
And then this... Our colleagues at the stadium (Belgium – Burkina Faso)
150 of our BESIX colleagues attended the latest Red Devils game in Brussels, a match against Burkina Faso, won 3-0. We hope they enjoyed the evening. Obviously, Frédéric Shutsha and Frédéric Gaillard did, and they sent us this nice picture. Thanks!
