D2 Tower – Adding a Sparkle to the Paris Skyline

ArcelorMittal is supplying 4,200 tonnes of steel for the D2 Tower, the first steel-framed tower in Paris’ business district of La Défense, and one of the first steel-framed skyscrapers in France.

Once completed, the skyscraper will stand 171m tall with 37 floors, and is set to become one of the Défense’s most striking office buildings. The D2 Tower is part of a bigger urban renewal project underway in La Défense.

The tower’s external ‘diagrid’ structure will give the building a diamond-like shine, with thousands of diamond-shaped windows reflecting the daylight to create a unique lighting effect.

ArcelorMittal is supplying its customer - steel fabricators Iemants – with 4,200 tonnes of steel products: 3,000 tonnes of HISTAR® jumbo beams from our facilities in Differdange, Luxembourg and 1,200 tonnes of cellular beams from our commercial sections entity ‘Eurostructures’, also located in Luxembourg.

The first batch of steel was delivered in the first quarter of 2012, with the final delivery due in the first quarter of this year. A key element of the project’s success was the collaboration between Long Carbon Europe’s (LCE’s) sales teams, LCE’s technical advisory “Tecom” team, Eurostructures’ beam-finishing, and Distribution Solutions Construction’s promotion team.

The 50,000sqm building is due to be completed in 2014.

Reducing the skyscraper’s environmental impact

The skyscraper was designed by architect Anthony Béchu in collaboration with fellow architect Tom Sheehan. During the study phase, steel quickly stood out as the material of choice, mainly thanks to the great speed of construction it offers: “We pushed for a steel structure while most of the bidders offered a solution based on concrete as their main construction material”, Anthony Béchu said in a recent interview with property development company, Bouygues Immobilier.

Using steel allowed the architects to use 30% less material compared to other structural solutions, a saving which has contributed to improving the tower’s environmental footprint.

Find more information on http://www.bouygues-immobilier-corporate.com/content/d2