Customers & Businesses

06/23/2008

Lafarge Canada Inc. Ready Mix is supplying 85,000 m3 of concrete for the construction of the Millennium Water Complex project, which will provide accommodation for athletes competing in the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. Ultra Green and Agilia® concretes will be supplied, with volumes of 45,000 m3 and 40,000 m3 respectively.

The Millennium Water Complex project is a L.E.E.D.-certified project. L.E.E.D. (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an American standards system for high environmental quality buildings whose criteria are, among others, energy efficiency, management of water consumption, heating efficiency and the use of locally sourced and recycled materials.

To qualify as a L.E.E.D. project and to meet the very tight deadlines imposed by the customer, the Lafarge team has been required to show ingenuity with a specific Agilia® formulation for this project...

05/14/2008

Hidden away in the hinterland of the Var coastline (France), the building realized for the art dealer, Enrico Navarra, nestles into the slope so as to blend into the natural vegetation of the Provencal landscape.
The villa Navarra practically boils down to its roof: an immense visor stretching 40 metres between the trees, with a cantilevered surface of 7.80 metres opens up the house to the wild landscape.
An exceptional work, both aesthetically and for its technical complexity, this ultra-thin roof made of Ductal® concrete is a world first. It is the fruit of the boldness and expertise of Rudy Ricciotti, laureate of the National Architecture Grand Prix 2006, Romain Ricciotti, structural engineer, and Lafarge teams.
The ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced Ductal® concrete has innovative properties and, once again, is capable of the most impressive of architectural feats.

03/06/2008

For a long time the designer Martin Szekely was seeking to confront himself to an "emblematic" material, like concrete regarding the world of constructions. Ductal®, the ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete, suits to the "Concrete" series of objects (tables and desks).

According to the designer, the object is not derived from a drawing but results from the inherent qualities of concrete. Thus, "the form of the tops, all in curves, recalls that the material was, at a certain point, in an almost liquid state", confirms Szekely. Concrete is worked "like a skin", whose thickness is just 8 millimeters (0,31 inches)!

As a result, the objects are thin, light, and solid, with an impeccable finish and a notion of "visual economy". The building material of a silky grey pale becomes delicate...

02/26/2008

Stefano Pilati, creative director for the famous Y.S.L. fashion brand, and the Moatti &Rivière agency have created a new architectural concept which will be rolled out throughout the 62 Y.S.L. boutiques worldwide.
Ductal®, the ultra-high fiber-reinforced concrete, is mixed with crystal, brass and glass to produce particularly thin and simple pieces: chairs and shelves with a 1.5 cm.-thickness, and a floor arranged in a herringbones pattern. The historic Y.S.L. Saint-Sulpice boutique in Paris (France) has been selected to inaugurate this new design with an iconoclastic spirit.

06/21/2007

Construction of the cycle racing track and sports complex at Barra, near Rio de Janeiro, called for more than 1,300 m³ of Lafarge's Especial II concrete. It was used for surfacing, cycle tracks and the construction of piers, floors and access roads. The remarkable fluidity and extremely high resistance of Especial II concrete were determining factors in its selection for this large-scale project.

06/07/2007

The city of Calgary pays close attention to the latest architectural trends and encourages the design of innovative buildings. The Glenmore/Legsby footbridge, an architectural gem, was built entirely out of Ductal®. Its quality finish, excellent resistance to weathering and easy maintenance makes this construction the pride of the city.

05/03/2007

The U.S. Department of Transport, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Lafarge worked in close collaboration to incorporate Ductal® into this high-tech bridge construction project. Thanks to its recognized resistance and durability, Ductal® was used to build the supporting beams of the Mars Hill Bridge in Iowa.

04/05/2007

Ductal® was the star of the project to renovate the swimming pool at Clichy-la-Garenne. This material, which combines solidity, ductility and esthetics, was used to build the "sunshades" which decorate the glass façade of the swimming pool. These shades regulate the pool's ambient temperature and lighting.

02/07/2007

Architect Franck Hammoutène received the Équerre d'Argent award for his extension to the Marseille City Hall. The extension created museum space and new council chambers as well as 20,000 m² of esplanades and public gardens. The architect and his team used 8,000 m³ of Lafarge concrete - including 600 m³ of Agilia® - for this project, which blends in with the topography of the site thanks to an intelligent combination of mineral and plant elements.

11/13/2006

30 years after the first stone was laid, innovative Agilia® concrete opened the way to completing the church of Saint-Pierre de Firminy, designed by Le Corbusier.

07/20/2006

The construction of a casino at Niagara Falls required massive investments. Agilia® cement and a Lafarge silicon cement were used for this 232,300 m² construction.

05/17/2006

04/20/2006

The student dormitories at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, make great use of the Group's products: buildings, decor and finishes are all in Lafarge concrete!

02/10/2006

Ductal®, the high-performance concrete marketed by Lafarge Cement, was chosen for the renovation of the access halls of the P0 parking structure at Orly Airport south of Paris. The ductility and strength of this range was enough to convince the architects. 600 Ductal® panels were produced to cover the 1,100 m² of access halls at the western terminal, which reopened on January 3, 2006.

01/20/2006

Eight of the best architects in Chile participated in a major architectural project to dream and design their ideal house. Lafarge participated in this project, code-named Ocho al Cubo (Eight Cubed), by supplying 2,500 m³ of concrete.

01/13/2006

Ductal® made some new friends at the 2006 Salon International Du Meuble in Paris as designers were won over by its unique structural and aesthetic properties. Bookshelves, tables and even bathtubs were among a selection of bold creations which combined finesse, lightness and original textures.

01/01/2006

Georgia Aquarium, one of the state's top tourist attractions, is home to more than 100,000 fish. Lafarge's decorative Artevia® Color concrete was used to finish the façade of this ship-shaped building.

09/20/2005

The Solaire residential tower in New York City is the first environmentally advanced building in the United States. It is designed to consume 35% less energy than a conventional building and meets sustainable construction criteria. Lafarge supplied reinforced concrete with fly ash additives.

06/27/2005

The Shawnessy light rail transit station in Calgary is sheltered by a series of elegant Ductal® canopies. The 24 unique, shell-like canopies each measure 5.1 meters by 5.5 meters but are only 20 millimeters thick! They protect the platform and passengers from the elements while remaining light and airy. The Shawnessy station won the 2005 Award of Excellence for Design & Construction in Concrete from the A.C.I. (American Concrete Institute/Alberta Chapter).

06/24/2005

Everett Station sits on a series of pre-cast concrete arches made with Type III cement. These arches support the structure and ensure a distinctive architectural signature for the concourse below.

05/26/2005

The 7 new wind turbines installed at Pubnico, Nova Scotia, generate enough power to supply 12,000 nearby homes. Lafarge supplied the Agilia® concrete used for the foundations. These wind generators serve to reduce CO2 emissions by around 90,000 tons per year.

05/19/2005

The Fairmont Chateau Hotel sits beside Lake Louise in the heart of Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta. 10,000 m³ of concrete, made with Lafarge G.U. type cement from Lafarge's concrete plant in Canmore, Canada, was used in the construction of the hotel.

03/29/2005

This residential building in Vancouver, British Colombia, incorporates a variety of Lafarge products: Agilia® Architectural, Agilia® Vertical and Agilia® Horizontal. Lafarge concretes were used for the interior and exterior walls. The use of Agilia® to pour the suspended slabs was a first in North America.

02/04/2005

Lafarge products aren't restricted to "industrial" uses. They also lend themselves to projects requiring a decorative touch. The use of Artevia® to surface residential paths and driveways in Atlanta illustrates this esthetic dimension.

12/23/2004

Lafarge launched a project in India to improve access to housing for low-income families. As part of the "Affordable Housing for Masses" project, Lafarge India built a prototype 20 m² house which offers a considerable reduction on the usual price per square meter. This project allows the Group to demonstrate the benefits of using cement and concrete to construct individual low-cost houses in rural, semi-urban and urban zones.