GA Smart Building is building Les Gradins, a convertible office building that from 26 July to 8 September 2024 will play host to the world’s top athletes.
The Athletes’ Village, where Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis and Île-Saint-Denis meet
The Athletes’ Village, under the responsibility of SOLIDEO (Société de livraison des ouvrages olympiques (company responsible for delivering Olympic facilities)) is designed to be a real neighbourhood of homes, shops, offices and places for living. In summer 2024, it will be welcoming athletes from all over the world for the most prestigious international sporting event. It will be developed at the crossroads of three municipalities in the Seine-Saint-Denis region, which are undergoing major change. Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis and Île-Saint-Denis. Over 22,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes will be accommodated in this unique, exemplary location, built around the Cité du Cinéma [Paris Film Studios].
In addition to its environmentally responsible reversibility, the Athletes’ Village has strong environmental ambitions and is committed to:
- protecting and developing biodiversity
- managing its carbon impact via the use of bio-based, responsible materials coming from recycled waste
- adapting the city to the 2050 climate, paying particular attention to summer comfort
Sector D, over 50,000 m² in the heart of the Athletes’ Village
At the end of a consultation launched by SOLIDEO in May 2019, the investors’ consortium, made up of the Caisse des Dépôts, the Caisse des Dépôts Habitat and Icade, was chosen as the winner of Sector D of the Athletes’ Village.
Five architectural agencies, Fagart & Fontana, Brenac & Gonzalez & Associés, Atelier Pascal Gontier, NP2F, ECDM and a landscaper, TN+, coordinated by Anne Mie Depuydt of uapS, then designed this area of over 50,000 m².
Les Gradins, a convertible residential and office building in Sector D of the Athletes’ Village
The 9,200 m² building, designed by the architecture agency ECDM, was named Les Gradins because of the terrace-like design of a grandstand that lends it a strong, distinctive identity.
This marks the entrance to the site of the Athletes’ Village, with its terraces that range from the second to the seventh floor.
The architectural style features three types of cladding: cladding tiles, terracotta brick facing and an external thermal insulation system (ETICS), which required the ATEX label.
The building was designed to be a plain, convertible building.
It will have at least two lives:
- 1st life – Summer 2024: it will accommodate 408 athletes and their staff. As a genuine apartment block, the building will have 211 rooms and 110 bathrooms, as well as common areas.
- 2nd life – November 2024: the building will begin a conversion phase and be turned into office space.
GA Smart Building teams first designed this convertible building as an office building, before adapting it to accommodate athletes from all around the world. This design approach means that the reconfiguration of the building will be greatly simplified. Choosing a low-carbon concrete structure with wood-framed facades (FOB) has enabled GA Smart Building to meet both housing and employment law requirements.
Like all GA Smart Building projects, the Les Gradins building has strong environmental ambitions.
As part of a systematic circular economy approach, the Group recovered 8,800 m² of false floors from the Les Miroirs building in Courbevoie and 15,300 m² from the Cristal Tower in Paris’ 15th arrondissement. These two sources cover 100% of the needs of Les Gradins, in addition to those of Up Gardens, the Up head office in Gennevilliers.
In addition, the Group has continued its use of river transport: the floors were manufactured off-site at the PREGA factory in Criquebeuf-sur-Seine near Rouen, and were transported up the Seine to be unloaded at the port of Gennevilliers near Saint-Ouen. River transport has 51% fewer carbon emissions compared with road transport, further reducing the Group’s carbon footprint.
In addition, Les Gradins is aiming to achieve the HQE Sustainable Buildings Excellent level, E+C- level E2C1, BREEAM Excellent, OsmoZ and Ready to Services (R2S) certifications. It also meets several requirements, including accessibility standards, the diversity and inclusion charter and the OAP (orientation d’aménagement et de programmation) [environment and health planning guidelines]).
Finally, Les Gradins is being developed on an existing site previously occupied by a company and a student residence, which means that no net land development is involved.
Les Gradins in Saint-Ouen, a demonstration of GA Smart Building’s industrial know-how
Due to its expertise and distinctive approach, GA Smart Building was approached at a very early stage by the Icade Promotion teams, and has been working with the Caisse des Dépôts, the Caisse des Dépôts Habitat and the Icade consortium from the outset. The consortium was selected by SOLIDEO to build Sector D in late October 2019. Due to multiple challenges, the project’s development phase was complex, lasting almost two years. The contract was signed in July 2021 and the land became available in late November 2021. The work was started in January 2022 for a delivery of the 1st phase of the building at the end of December 2023.
Les Gradins building was modelled using BIM, and demonstrates the relevance of the Group’s off-site industrial approach, which will make it possible to deliver this ambitious structure on time, while minimising the impact on the environment and any disturbance.
The structural elements (floors, posts and beams) are produced in GA Smart Building’s French factories before being assembled on-site. The GA group has integrated active slabs for the heating system and Leaf air treatment modules in the building’s ceiling. The wood-framed facade panels were produced by Ossabois, GA Smart Building‘s off-site construction and wood subsidiary.
Datasheet of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Athletes’ Village 2024, Sector D
Project management SCCV Quinconces:
- Icade
- Caisse des dépôts
- CDC habitat
Off-site manufacturer:
- GA Smart Building
Sector D Architects and landscape designer
- uapS, coordinating architect
- EDCM
- Fagart & Fontana
- Brenac Gonzalez Associés
- Atelier Pascal Gontier
- NP2F
- Landscape designer TN+
BET & Expertises:
- Egis
- Berim
- REI Habitat
- MBAcity
- Socotec
- OASIIS
