Since time immemorial, builders have sought new ways to build and techniques have constantly evolved. So why are we continuing to emphasise research in 2008? Is there still room for improvement in construction?

Improve solidity, safety, height and light, lower costs, tighten deadlines… With each new day, builders, architects and engineers have always pushed back the limits and challenged the concepts and techniques used in building their structures, seeking to innovate. The only certainty is that changes in the world of construction are far from finished and that they are more likely to accelerate. In particular, added pressure is coming from the direction of sustainable development, and from productivity.

Given this perceptible acceleration, and the introduction of these new criteria for assessing performance, Research and Development activity is actually an increasingly essential component of the GSE General Contractor concept. GSE R&D director Stanislas Grassien tells us why.

Can you summarise just what is the purpose of the R&D department?

S.G. : The reason for our existence as a General Contractor has always been to provide a highly efficient, complete solution to the corporate real estate market’s needs. The introduction of new performance criteria – including those listed above – implies ongoing transformation of our business and our methods. These changes have to be based on ideas and propositions which emanate from the Innovation Research and Development department. The objective is to continually improve the added value and the quality of our service offer.

Do you believe that research and sustainable development go hand in hand?

S.G. : Absolutely. In 2007, awareness of the environmental stakes in construction reached new heights. And the desire to integrate twofold ecological and economic thinking in the design and construction of buildings is a new and unshakeable reality which will only grow in years to come. For the GSE Group, the design and construction of one million square meters per year of environmentally-friendly buildings throughout all of Europe is a real industrial challenge, and a real responsibility. Given these stakes, GSE has to develop new solutions which can be implemented on a large scale. These solutions require in-depth, creative thinking which bear out their environmental and economic effectiveness.

So for you, does this mean anticipating needs?

S.G. : Indeed in our business, change takes time, for many different reasons. And yet, in the field of sustainable development, things also have to evolve quickly, now. Given the climate changes underway and those to come as predicted by the scientists, reduction of CO2 emissions is already a real race against time.

• The buildings we are designing today will be delivered in 1 to 2 years.
• It takes approximately one year to test a new material, then another year to get it ready on an industrial scale with a reliable supply-chain. So you really need 3 to 4 years before you can actually launch a reliable, wide-scale offer and see it integrated into most of the buildings we build. 
• It takes even longer to change regulatory constraints and insurance limitations where necessary. Actions to make these changes can take up to 5 years to bear fruit, to which you sometimes have to add another 2 to 3 years application time.

So we must be pioneers. We must invent and propose, to avoid having to endure increasingly unacceptable situations.

So the role of the R & D department is essential?

S.G. : The mission of any R & D department consists in stimulating the dynamics of innovation to assist the rest of the company and anticipate, as you pointed out earlier, and even lead changes in the professional real estate market, be it in the logistics, industrial or retail sectors. We have to be convinced that the projects we will be designing and building in just a few years’ time will have very little in common with the projects currently going up.

The R&D department works as a catalyser, a crucial role on the continued road to progress. The R&D department must accelerate implementation of Best Practices and spread the use of new technologies throughout all the phases of our business.  
 

Can an R & D department have any influence on changes in construction standards and legislation ?

S.G. : Yes, that is one of the objectives and practically a required condition for progress, but not the only one, for Research and Development entails interaction with many different people.

Work gets started in-house first, where R&D actions are conducted across the board, and in an interactive fashion, taking into account the diversity and skills in each one of our Business Units – logistics, industry and services, retail, health.

However, the R & D department does also have to look outwards, for it must interact in a wide circle with all our different stakeholders:

• in the industrial area and with the supply-chain, on technological watch and in associative and industrial lobbying,
• in the sphere of our clientele – users, developers, logisticians, loaders, transporters, etc., always open to their ideas, working together on task forces and working groups on selected subjects,
• in the technological fields, setting up partnerships with public and private research (competitive clusters, schools and laboratories, specialised engineering and design offices), and filing patents,
• in the regulatory arena, working with the insurers, developing new techniques and establishing certification repositories (CSTB, Certivea, Ineris, CNPP...),
• and also, in the institutional area, in relation with, in France, institutions such as the Medad, the Drire, national government offices such as the Water Police who are close partners on every project.
• …and of course the competition…

In practical terms, what are your directions for development?

S.G. : In addition to our constant research on cost optimisation, shorter deadlines and higher construction quality, R & D is concentrating on three major directions:

• building competitiveness in terms of operation (energy consumption, simplicity of maintenance, reliability of equipment…),
• environmental performance (controlling the carbon balance during the construction phase and building use, integration of the environmental aspects such as rainwater management and biodiversity, fire prevention… )
• innovative aspects (human engineering, building productivity).

Let’s look at a few specific cases of work underway:

• development of a decision-making tool which assesses the carbon footprint for each project, taking into account construction, the use of energy during building lifetime, and deconstruction,
• a modelling study looking at modelling the management of rainwater on warehouse plots (drainage and treatment), adapted from concepts done by the Americans and Anglo-Saxons, among others,
• the Flumilog project, which will prepare a method for calculating the distances involved in the thermal effects of a fire in order to optimise building location on the property and optimise the required heat screen surface areas, 
• a study on the dynamic thermal behaviour of warehouses in order to reduce the energy used for heating purposes, 
• a study on visual comfort in the building, taking into account the optimisation of the daylight factor and the performance of the artificial lighting system, 
• development of innovative dock equipment for unloading semi-trailers while freeing up square footage on the ground.

What innovations are you already ready to offer your clients?

S.G. : Research into lower carbon emissions is a top priority for GSE. In 2006, GSE proposed a new type of building called “Optima designed by GSE”. This concept, which won the Logistics Innovation prize at the SITL, is now a reality, and several Optima buildings have been built. In the renewable energy field, GSE has just founded a new subsidiary dedicated to the development of “turnkey” photovoltaic plants on the rooftops of logistics and industrial buildings. And GSE, working through its CCR subsidiary, has designed the Ecoparc concept, which proposes a different and decidedly forward-thinking way to design buildings with emphasis on preserving the environment.