Marie Bonnenfant, assistant construction manager for Eiffage Construction Auvergne, talks about her experience with AxeoBIM on the New High School of Clermont-Ferrand project.
Hello, could you introduce yourself and your structure?
Hello, I am an assistant works manager for Eiffage Construction Auvergne. I manage the plans, a little bit of manpower, I help the works managers especially on the administrative part so that they are more available in the follow-up of the works.
Could you give us an overview of this project?
The project is a new professional high school in Clermont Ferrand. It aims to replace two old structures that had become a bit dilapidated. This new high school will be in wood frame, there will be very little concrete. We started in September of last year and we should deliver it next spring so that it can open for the start of the school year in 2022.
Did the Covid crisis penalize you a lot?
On the site for the production: no. It is mainly via our suppliers and BET that we were penalized. The suppliers having had many Covid cases at their place, or being closed, could not deliver us materials for the realization of work. That was also complicated for the studies.
The other problem is the price of raw materials which is skyrocketing. Especially wood, which has doubled, not to say tripled. We mainly do wood frames, so fortunately the wood was bought from the beginning, but there are elements that we did not need at the beginning, that were not foreseen in the budget and that have been added as we went along. This increase in the price of wood in Europe is mainly due to the fact that the price had dropped significantly at first with the cessation of construction. Some countries, such as the United States, have seen their economy recover faster than ours and they have sourced their materials from where they are cheapest, in Europe. This created a sharp increase in prices when activity picked up.
Why did you choose the AxeoBIM solution for this project?
AxeoBIM had already been used on one of our previous projects (the thermal baths in Chatel), it allowed us to see what was possible to do with your tool and the improvements we needed on this project. We chose this platform because it is very user-friendly and easy to learn. For our subcontractors and users it's great. In the past, I've used a lot of solutions, and when it was time to train newcomers on the site for thefirst time , I spent almost an hour explaining how these solutions worked. Now it's fast, it's intuitive. I also talked about it with a freelance designer on the project, who is used to using a lot of solutions, and she finds it one of the easiest and most practical to use.
Thank you Mrs. Bonnenfant for this exchange.
Sources and acknowledgements:
Marie Bonnenfant (Eiffage Auvergne)
Project visuals: France info and CRR architecture
