The Competition
The Breton site of Exail Brest specializes in the development, production, and marketing of high-end positioning and communication equipment for underwater environments.
Following the merger of the ECA and iXblue companies, the current project aims to bring together the two companies' facilities by creating a unifying building that can accommodate all employees in the same work environment. The proposed building must be able to meet Exail's future ambitions and needs, as the company aims to double its production by 2025.
Ideally located on the cliff, facing the Atlantic Ocean and overlooking the Goulet de Brest, this exceptional site is intended to become a vector of the Exail group's image, which aims to make the future building a showcase of its technologies and know-how.
The design of the new building must meet a series of demanding challenges, ranging from the adaptability of spaces to the planned program to the minimization of the building's environmental impact, as well as the cohesion and well-being of the employees desired for this site.
The success of the project will lie in the design of a building that is adapted to Exail's growing needs, which will allow it to accommodate and bring together its various activities while meeting its development ambitions. The project will address climate issues by constructing a sustainable and reversible building with minimized environmental impact both during its construction and use.
€ 10,000,000
Estimated envelope
3,000 sqm
Construction
Watch the project owner interview :
An exemplary building
The energy consumption of the building will have to be controlled and reduced to a strict minimum. The industrial process of photonics, which consists of melting silica at 1800°C to create optical fibres, is obviously very energy-intensive. This is why the construction must be irreproachable and must be part of an energy-saving approach.
With a view to controlling and reducing environmental impact, particular attention must be paid to the carbon impact of construction. The choice of building materials, their origin and their general impact will therefore be part of the elements taken into account by the project owner in order to choose the project that will best fit into its environment.
Anticipating the evolution of the building in terms of its needs and operation is essential to meet current environmental challenges. In a reversible approach, it will be imperative that the design alleviates as much as possible the cost of possible future adaptations of the site.
One of the main qualities of the project will therefore be to allow for the evolution of uses and programmatic assignments by space and on the scale of the building over the next 10 to 20 years.
A showcase of Exail maritime technologies
Exail is positioned at the forefront of French and international high-tech industrial groups.
The planned building, open to the ocean and ideally located on one of the points of Finistère, will have to take advantage of this exceptional site in order to assert this positioning and reflect Exail's technological excellence.
Reflecting an ambition for cutting-edge technologies with a positive impact, the building should embody the company's image as a major global player in its fields of expertise.
Collective intelligence, comfort and attractiveness
One of the major challenges of the project will be to create a building capable of accommodating the group's new needs, by proposing intelligent and innovative solutions, both in terms of logistics, industry and human resources.
The project aims to create a building with optimal production conditions, offering an ideal and fruitful cohabitation between the different teams and activities of the site.
The spaces should be designed as a porous ensemble for the exchange of ideas, talents and resources; where knowledge sharing and positive, multidisciplinary collaboration are part of the daily life of the site's users.
The project also aims, through this approach, to constitute a showcase for Exail towards its current employees, and to reinforce its attractiveness in the job market, towards its future employees.
Competition
May 26th, 2023 - registration deadline
June 15th, 2023 - project site visit
September 8th, 2023 - project submission deadline
September 15th, 2023 - project presentation
Studies & works
September 2023 - winning team selection
June 2025 - delivery of works
General information
Applications
Teams' selection
Eligibility criteria
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