Monseigneur-Blanche Terminal

Everything happened over the water, on a terminal that stayed in service. Shoring from the riverbed was not an option: the formwork had to be carried by what was already there — the new piles for the mooring dolphins, the existing concrete structure for the cruise passenger gangway. The old timber wharf, at the end of its life, also had to come down, and a way to load the barges had to be created from scratch.

Fourteen separate engineering mandates over eighteen months, with twenty-five drawing issues.

Mooring dolphins — The formwork rested on steel brackets hung from the tops of the piles, carrying the beams and formwork needed for the concrete pour. Grating work platforms for both phases.

Gangway — Modular beams suspended from the existing concrete structure were the preferred solution. It kept room for adjustment right up to the final steps before the pour, while holding one consistent working method from phase to phase. Add to that the temporary abutment and the lifting plan.

Demolition — Work procedures for taking down the existing timber wharf and the old mooring dolphins, with temporary supports and a lifting platform.

Barge landing — A temporary loading quay built from concrete blocks and geogrid, designed as a retaining wall. Quick to build, inexpensive, removable — and it unlocked the whole marine logistics of the site.

Bearing and handling — Launching the barges, mooring bollard anchorages, and checking the bearing capacity of the ground and of the mats under the crane.

Site follow-up — Site visits and conformity attestations as the installations progressed.

The solution we keep is almost never the most spectacular one — it is the one that leaves the site the most room to work. Suspended beams you can still adjust right up to the pour. A block landing you build, use, then take away.

That is often where a good part of our work is decided: designing the temporary structure so it carries its load, but also so it stays simple and practical to use.

Thanks to Construction LFG and to every team involved.