Sogea - 1999 annual report - Vinci

32
HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
In the Benelux, activity for the industrial sector
remained modest in 1999 but it should pick up in
2000. In the field of pipe and oil and gas pipeline
laying, Denys continues its partnership with GDF.
The company recently signed a large contract with
the latter for the reinforcement of its gas
transportation network to the south of Europe. Denys
also operates outside the Benelux, as witness its
recent successes in the north of France.
Finally, Socea, a Denys subsidiary specialized in the
installation of concrete pipelines and a leader in the
field, developed – for its 35th anniversary in 1999 –
a new patent for the construction of very large
diameter wells which are installed through kirving.
In the United Kingdom Norwest Holst is currently
completing the construction of a water treatment
plant in Miworth for Severn Trent and it has just
begun work on another at Birkenhead for North
West Water. As part of its business diversification and
building on its experience of more than 100 years in
hydraulic engineering, Sogea began a few years ago to
actively seek business in the export market beyond its
traditional operating areas. This initiative has already
led to several successes: in Palestine, the company
has just completed work to improve the efficiency of
the drinking water systems in Bethlehem and Hebron;
in Portugal it handed over the Ermesinde purification
plant in 1999; it is currently doing work in Kosovo
together with teams from Générale des Eaux; and
finally in Kazakhstan it has just been provisionally
selected to lay 51 km of steel pipe in Astana.
1. Denys has for many
years been a master
of advanced hydraulic
engineering techniques,
particularly drilling and
micro-tunnelling.
2. Denys built a 900 mm
diameter siphon
under the Escault at
Antoing as part of
the Western Hainaut
drinking water
supply project.
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