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"La Belle Otero", this giant drill that makes its hole under the Croisette in the middle of the Cannes Film Festival

2023-05-25T17:10:05.987Z

Highlights: Mayor David Lisnard wants to make the most beautiful avenue in Cannes "the Croisette of the 21st century" The main objective is to completely restructure wet pipes (drinking water, storm water and wastewater) "It's an atypical project," says Arnaud Robigny, project manager. "La Belle Otero", which paves the way for a 2.3-kilometer concrete hose, has already covered 550 meters in two months. By the end of May, it should reach the Cannes bus station.


IN PICTURES - A site visit was organized Thursday morning on the Croisette, a few steps from the red carpet, in the presence of the mayor of Cannes David Lisnard. The opportunity to take stock of the modernization work of the city's underground networks.


Le Figaro Nice

As a good cinephile and especially as host of the first international gathering dedicated to cinema, David Lisnard does not sulk his pleasure when it comes to paraphrasing a great film line. "We must change everything so that nothing changes," he borrowed Thursday morning from Luchino Visconti's Italian masterpiece, The Leopard, (1958) with Alain Delon, during a site visit. A maxim to illustrate his ambition to make the most beautiful avenue in Cannes "the Croisette of the 21st century". The mayor wants to make beautiful, aesthetic, but not only. "It's not all cosmetic," he says.

For several months, major rehabilitation work has been carried out discreetly in the bowels of the Croisette, ten meters deep. It is a question of modernizing the underground networks, unchanged for almost a century for the most part. "A major project, on invisible but essential works for the life of the city," summarizes the mayor. The main objective is to completely restructure wet pipes (drinking water, storm water and wastewater). "The challenge for us today is to reduce operating costs, protect the environment (by avoiding leaks in particular, editor's note) and optimize the resource," continues David Lisnard.

To carry out this work under the Croisette, the municipality and the agglomeration of Cannes Lérins use the innovative and somewhat spectacular technique of the microtunnel boring machine. A kind of giant drill that progresses about twenty meters every day. This one, nicknamed "La Belle Otero", created, without trench and while maintaining the circulation on the surface, a main collector at great depth to recover part of the wastewater from the east of the Cannes basin (Cannes, Le Cannet, Mougins) and transport it to the Aquaviva treatment plant, located near Cannes Mandelieu airport.

It's almost impossible to guess that just a few feet from the red carpet, right across the street from the five-star Majestic hotel, a gaping hole is camouflaged behind a curtain of mesh barriers. One of the four leading shafts from which the microtunnel boring machine digs the subsoil. Nicolas Daguin

A titanic work that is progressing well, even in the middle of the Cannes Film Festival. On the surface, the event is in full swing, unperturbed. It's almost impossible to guess that just a few feet from the red carpet, right across the street from the five-star Majestic hotel, a gaping hole is camouflaged behind a curtain of mesh barriers. One of the four leading shafts from which the microtunnel boring machine digs the subsoil. "It's an atypical project," says Arnaud Robigny, project manager. On site, engineers and technicians are busy. "La Belle Otero", which paves the way for a 2.3-kilometer concrete hose, has already covered 550 meters in two months. By the end of May, it should reach the Cannes bus station.

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A €35 million project

"It's pretty much under your desk right now," an agent told David Lisnard. "I'm spending too much time there, but I haven't heard anything!" he retorts with a smile. With a diameter of two meters, the microtunnel boring machine is remotely controlled on the surface by a technician in a cockpit full of buttons. "It's going well," he sums up, his eyes riveted on three small screens. To access the tunnel drilled by "La Belle Otero", you have to take your courage with both hands and descend into the hole via a long vertical ladder. The mayor of Cannes wants to be the first to dive. Dressed in an immaculate construction outfit, a pair of rubber boots and a yellow helmet, the mayor compares himself to Daft Punk.

The concrete hose looms, endless. It is lined with a bunch of thinner ducts and pipes, ensuring the smooth running of operations. Nicolas Daguin

The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard. Nicolas Daguin

Once at the bottom, the pipe looms, endless. It is lined with a pile of thinner ducts and pipes, ensuring the smooth running of operations. "It's important to be here, to see how we work, with what techniques. I find that we can never explain enough what we do, "remarks the mayor, progressing with his back bent in the tunnel. While the microtunnel boring machine continues its work, a crane carries the pieces of pipe into the hole in segments of about five meters. Powerful hydraulic cylinders are then responsible for introducing them into the tunnel, where they are glued to each other.

Powerful hydraulic cylinders are then responsible for introducing the concrete segments into the tunnel, where they are glued to each other. Nicolas Daguin

Soon, "La Belle Otero" will reach the surface to be replaced by "Éléonore". A drill "with a hard tooth" according to the engineers, responsible for finishing the work in a rougher substrate and difficult to drill. The work schedule provides for the completion of construction next December. A €35 million project, which also includes the creation of a heating network for the development of a thalasso thermie system that will supply the buildings on the Croisette (hotels, shops and condominiums). But David Lisnard assures him "the water bill will not increase.

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Source: lefigaro

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