Blue label award for “dorsal” road work site under construction in Monaco
In addition to “ISO” standards certifying company quality procedures, the “Blue Label” is being introduced as an award to construction sites for their efforts as far as quality, safety and the environment are concerned. A blue flag was hoisted on Wednesday 31st January by Robert Calcagno, Government Counsellor for Facilities, the Environment and Urban Planning and Martial Desruelles President of GFC Construction (a subsidiary of Bouygues Construction for South-East France), on the T33 work site located at the bottom of the Exotic Garden of Monaco, close to the uphill tunnel. Photovoltaic panels on the buildings of the work site, solar water heaters, sorting of materials and waste, safety meetings for workers, secured telescopic boom lifts, spraying of dust … In addition to the basic standards, great efforts have been made to reduce environmental nuisance to the T33 work site, one of the largest currently underway in Monaco. Approximately forty workers from the building contractors Richelmi (a subsidiary of GFC Construction) are building one of the sections of the famous underground dorsal “East-West” road that will be brought into service in the summer of 2008. The goal of such work, for which the global cost has been estimated at 150 million euros, is to reduce traffic problems in the Principality. The label, which was awarded last Wednesday, is the outcome of an audit carried out by GFC Construction on the request of the construction superintendent. It therefore results from an internal procedure. “Sustainable development, safety, control of pollution and energy consumption are essential requirements within the Group”, explained Martial Desruelles from Bouygues Construction. Robert Calcagno commended the efforts made by the managers and individuals working on the T33 work site: “Construction sites cause various environmental nuisances and improvements can be made only by adopting a certain attitude on a daily basis”, he declared and hastened to add that “Protection of the environment is one of the main priorities of the Sovereign Prince”.