French facade workers evicted from Saint Gobain tower


The French aluminum carpentry companies are indignant at being "evicted," they say, from the construction of the glass facades of the Saint-Gobain tower in La Défense by the Vinci group, who preferred a sub- Turkish dealer at "abnormally low" prices.
"The French facade workers evicted from the tower Saint-Gobain shout their anger," said in a statement Tuesday the professional organization SNFA, which represents some 185 companies that design, manufacture and install aluminum joinery (verandas, windows, facades).
The Vinci group, in charge of the construction of this 39-storey tower under construction in the La Défense business district, "recently chose the Turkish company Metal Yapi" to create the glass façades of the structure, Reports the SNFA.
"The reasons for this choice: again abnormally low prices!", The organization said, denouncing "another blow to French companies, once again deprived of an important market".
Today Metal Yapi "has in France only an establishment of less than 5 people who is not even affiliated to the collective agreement of the building," says the organization.
Thus, according to the SNFA, "all the components of the facades as well as the labor of manufacturing and installation will therefore be entirely of origin + outside Europe +".
"For us, it is impossible to work, respecting all the rules, under the financial conditions imposed by the general companies", major groups of construction and their subsidiaries, told AFP Jean-Luc Marchand, SNFA.
"Our facades will die," he warned.
Some 25,000 m2 of glass facades are to be built on the site of this tower, designed by the French architect Valode and Pistre, whose delivery is planned for the third quarter of 2019.
Metal Yapi, "subcontractor of Bouygues for the facades of the building Le Monde, has already defended the chronicle in 2004," says the SNFA.
This project had given rise to "deplorable conditions of work and accommodation of its employees, which made controversy" says the organization, which sees the consequence of "incredible price discrepancies with French companies."
For the SNFA, these cases of subcontracting foreign to the "disastrous" consequences are "far from being isolated and become even a common practice".
Thus, the façade of the Carpe diem tower, entrusted to the Chinese company Yuanda and also located in La Défense, suffered from "major leaks" which required a clogging for several months, reports Mr. Marchand.
As for the facade of Tower D2, it was entrusted to the subcontractor Kyotec, which itself "subcontracted all its manufacture in Turkey" and filed for bankruptcy before the end of the project.
For the SNFA, French companies are "in a position to offer services of much better quality (...) provided they receive a fair remuneration".