French President Emmanuel Macron will on Thursday hail the array of artisans, architects and engineers involved in building the Paris Aquatics Centre during an inauguration ceremony of the showpiece venue to be used during the Olympic Games.
The 180 million-euro centre – a stone's throw from the Stade de France in Saint-Denis – will host water polo, diving and synchronised swimming competitions between 26 July and 11 August.
In the month after, it will be used as a training facility for the Paralympics swimming events.
In the years before the bid was lodged to host the Olympics, leaders of the Seine Saint Denis department just outside Paris had lobbied for a pool to aid an area where statistics revealed that 60 percent of the 11-year-olds in the region were unable to swim.
The Aquatics Centre will be able to host spectators around the pool in stands which can be configured for between 2,500 and 5,000 people.
Outside, a footbridge over the A1 motorway connects the complex with the Stade de France, which will be the venue for the athletic events.
Solar farm
On an environmental level, a 5,000 square metre roof covered with photovoltaic panels, will make it one of France’s largest urban solar farms and supply all the energy that the centre needs.
Paris organisers have said they want the Olympic Games to finish by using half the carbon emissions of London in 2012 and Rio four years later.
Paris 2024 executives initially set a target equivalent to 1.58 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. But that ambition has been lowered to around 1.75 million tonnes to allow for the visitors flying from abroad to the events around France.
Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence for the Paris organising committee, told the French news agency AFP last month: "Something we are uncertain of is the carbon impact of spectators ... we haven't yet sold all the tickets."
The key to reducing Paris' carbon footprint was contained in the city's original bid.
Built from scratch
Organisers promised to use either existing or temporary sites for 95 percent of the sports events. Apart from the Aquatics Centre, the athletes village in Saint-Denis and the La Chapelle Arena have been the only venues constructed from scratch;
Contractors for the village had to agree to reduce the emissions resulting from their buildings by 30 percent compared with standard constructions, meaning many of them experimented with low-carbon concrete and wood.
Seating in the Aquatics Centre and the La Chapelle Arena have been made from recycled plastics collected from schools in Saint Denis.
Other innovations include connecting up all the sports venues to the electricity mains supply, meaning stadium operators don't rely on diesel generators for power.
"To give you an idea of the volume of diesel for the London Games, there were four million litres burned just for electricity purposes," said Grenon.
