Olympic Games-2024: five months before the Olympic Games, Macron will cut the ribbon of the Olympic village

The deadline for the Olympic Games in Paris is gradually approaching. Thursday's stage makes the arrival of this global event in five months in France even more concrete.

Emmanuel Macron, whose last visit was more than two years ago in October 2021, at a time when the village, which was emerging from the ground, was only a huge construction site, will be able to see the immensity of the work accomplished.

On Wednesday evening, he invited around ten athletes to dinner at the Elysée, such as judoka Romane Diko and fencer Romain Cannone.

Titanic

Thursday morning, he will be able to appreciate the success of this titanic project, built in seven years, which brings together nearly 82 buildings, 3.000 apartments and 7.200 rooms on a site which extends over 52 hectares between Saint-Denis, the island of Saint-Denis, Denis and Saint-Ouen.

“It is quite strong what Solideo and the builders managed to do, it must be emphasized. The community was skeptical about the ability to set up a village of this size in such a short time,” estimates an executive from a company having worked on this immense project, which will officially pass into the hands of the organizers.

Because apart from a delay of "a few weeks" according to the president of Solideo Nicolas Ferrand for the buildings located on Saint-Denis Island, the schedule planned for delivery held.

But the work is not quite finished to be able to welcome the 206 Olympic delegations, and the organizers will have their work cut out for them for the next five months between now and the start of these Olympics. Because the apartments delivered are bare, and they must now be equipped, furniture installed (beds, bedside tables, etc.), and service centers set up for athletes.

“This represents more than 345.000 pieces in total which will be transported. Duvets, bedside tables, beds, there will be 14.250, 8.200 fans and 5.535 sofas”, details Laurent Michaud, director of the Olympic and Paralympic villages at Paris 2024 "There will be two athletes per 12 m2 room, and a bathroom for four people. Everyone will be accommodated in the same boat."

The equipment of these apartments, as well as the numerous services that the athletes and their staff will enjoy during their stay, will be provided by the sponsors.

“It’s a village that we worked with athletes for athletes (...) so that each athlete can find all the needs they will need,” summarizes Laurent Michaud.

40.000 meals a day

During the Olympics, the village will indeed function as a classic but ephemeral city. For example, athletes will be able to have their laundry washed in temporary laundromats with nearly 600 washing machines and dryers. Maintenance of apartments in more than 70 residences will be ensured by twelve concierge services scattered throughout the village.

Only the kitchens will be absent from the apartments. Athletes will have 24-hour access to the imposing nave of the Cité du cinéma transformed into a giant restaurant with a variation on six culinary themes (Italy, Asia, France, etc.) for nearly 24 seats and 3.200 meals. served per day. A second restaurant will be installed on Saint-Denis Island, and food trucks "will be distributed throughout the village allowing athletes to have an alternative to catering", specifies Laurent Michaud.

A grocery store, a police station, a hair salon, a fitness room, a bar (without alcohol), and a multi-faith center... Athletes should not want for anything. Even a post office will be installed temporarily in this city which will not have a mayor.

A 3.000 m2 polyclinic, in place of the Dahnier osteopathy school, will also be available. Athletes will be able to go there twenty-four hours a day to receive treatment, or have a CT scan or MRI.

To get around this village "bicycles will be made available" as well as "electric shuttles which will run 24 hours a day", adds Laurent Michaud.

Once the Paralympic Games end in mid-September, the apartments will be reconfigured to accommodate residents and businesses in this new district.

Environmental innovations in the Olympic Village

Wooden constructions, an urban hot and cold network, air purification devices... New materials, techniques and devices were tested to build the athletes' village for the Paris Olympic Games, which its designers imagined as a construction model.

“The dense city still has a future in the 21st century,” Nicolas Ferrand, executive general director of Solideo (Olympic works delivery company), told AFP, supporting the idea that life in “city can continue to be pleasant".

“We can respond to four major subjects: carbon, how we drastically reduce it, the question of climate change, the economy of materials, and biodiversity,” he adds.

Wood and concrete

“We chose the materials not based on technical, economic or architectural constraints, we chose the materials based on their carbon footprint,” explains Julie Bosch, project director at Vinci Immobilier.

The framework of the buildings, the insulation, the facades and the floors of the homes (200.000 m2 of floors installed) are mainly made of wood (30% French).

For the buildings which will be converted into offices, the floors are covered with 18.000 m3 of "ultra low carbon" concrete, for a saving of 5.000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared to an equivalent project in traditional concrete, according to Solideo.

For the exterior floors, the 31.600 tonnes of concrete used were recovered from the debris of other buildings.

Part of the roadway also incorporates shells which facilitate the passage of rainwater so that it is stored before being released "during hot periods, creating transpiration of the paving stones and cooling of the public space", according to the Solideo.

geothermal

A geothermal power plant, inaugurated in December in the Pleyel district, will provide heat and cold to the surrounding districts, including the Olympic village.

Interest: the apartments did not have to be equipped with traditional air conditioning or heating systems, air conditioning having been banned from the specifications. But national delegations will still be able to rent a “cooling unit” from the Organizing Committee.

Powered by this hot and cold network, a system of so-called "reversible" floors, heated in winter and cooled in summer, was installed in the residential buildings.

Photovoltaic panels

Solar panels on the roofs, notably on the future student residence, will provide part of the electricity for the athletes' village.

The envelope and insulation of the buildings have been sized to withstand more heatwaves, according to climatic hypotheses from Météo-France for 2050.

“If it is very hot outside or very cold, there is a very significant period of inertia before it contaminates the home” according to Julie Bosch. A difference of 6°C with the outside is promised.

The morphology of the district and the buildings has also been designed to promote the circulation of air and light thanks to buildings erected in staggered rows, crossing and bi-oriented apartments, but also south facades made of reflective materials or painted in white.

Filtered air and water

To reduce drinking water consumption, rainwater will be collected by "a drip regulation system", which will make it possible to irrigate the vegetation on the roofs, but also that below.

For one of the buildings (named "Cycle"), the roof will collect and purify gray and rainwater through "ceramic filtration" before being reused to supply water to the toilets, water the green spaces or clean the vehicles.

Finally, to clean the outside air in this district close to the capital, in addition to seven hectares of green spaces, a kind of large raised white saucer, four meters in diameter, were installed to capture fine particles, thanks to " two conductive plates (...) making it possible to achieve a reduction rate of 95% in air pollution in the area concerned", according to Solideo.

Another system, "Combin'Air", can also purify the outside air using an activated carbon and algae filter.