The Marais district, at the historical center of Paris, is a blend of old and new: you can find start-ups, trendy shops, neo-cafés and young families inside the walls of buildings that date back to the reign of Louis XIV. What better setting for an innovative restoration project? Lafarge France recently supported Bouygues Construction in the renovation of two heritage sites using their solution to dramatically cut costs, waste and emissions in a pilot circular economy project.
aggneo™ closes the loop on construction and development waste
In December 2016, Bouygues Construction began renovating two heritage buildings in the heart of Paris (Rue des Archives). Rather than producing new concrete for the reconstruction project, they partnered with Lafarge France to turn the sites’ rubble – the waste left behind after construction and demolition – into ready-to-use concrete. Using our aggneo™ solutions, our teams in France were able to make use of all inert material, turning 18% into new concrete products and 82% into new road gravels.
By taking on the mammoth task of transporting, sorting and recycling 4,000 tonnes of demolition materials from the sites, Lafarge France’s involvement in the project preserved the same amount of natural resources from quarry extraction. 720 tonnes of this waste was recycled to make new concrete for the renovation project in a local concrete plant, whose proximity contributed to the 10-30% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to a classic renovation site.
LafargeHolcim champions sustainable, circular building practices
As a result of the partnership between Lafarge France and Bouygues Construction, the two renovated buildings now comply with France’s green building standards ("Haute Qualité Environnementale" or HQE) as well as Europe’s targets for the recycling of construction and demolition waste. This circular economy project is also an illustration of how the solutions in LafargeHolcim’s sustainability strategy, the 2030 Plan, can be used to overcome the real-life building challenges faced by our customers and partners.
By 2030, the Group strives to quadruple current volumes of recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste and to transform waste materials into 80 million tons per year of new resources. Through partnerships and projects such as this, we’ll remain a forerunner in the responsible use of the today’s resources to build a better future.