Stop and Go The crisis, as seen on the Grand Paris Express
The unpredictable nature of a crisis and its cascading
consequences are often the main reasons why
it happens. The events of the first half of 2020 are
indelibly etched in everyone’s mind.
Everything changed over just a few days. Following
the announcements made on 12 and 14 March on the
closure of schools and all non-essential public spaces
from 16 March, Société du Grand Paris decided on the
Sunday that all its employees would switch to remote
working. With immediate effect. On the morning
of 16 March, initial reports from the worksites were
fairly upbeat: they were confident that work planned
for that day would still go ahead. But a few hours later,
the signs were more downbeat. Some workers were
experiencing difficulties travelling to the Paris region.
Others needed to stay at home to look after their
children. This all led to considerable disruption
at worksites.
Work on hold
From midday onwards, and as requested by some
consortia, several sites stopped work. Shortly
afterwards, Société du Grand Paris decided to suspend
work on all 120 active sites. The entire ecosystem
was faced with an unprecedented situation. While
worksites were in the process of safely pausing
operations, programme management and
engineering teams were switching to remote working.
For the future success of the project, it was essential
that ongoing studies were not interrupted, that
contracts continued to be awarded and that new calls
for tender were issued. Behind the scenes, people
were already busy working out how worksites could
be reopened. The government consulted, proposals
came back from the field, and on 2 April, the “Guide to
Health Security Recommendations for Construction
Business Continuity” was on the table. Or at least its
On 20 April 2020, construction companies gradually resumed their work while following measures to prevent Covid-19 infection.
F O C U S
CSR APPROACH
RISKS AND CHALLENGES
IDENTITY
2020 ACTIVITY
Activity report
