Although the construction and delivery to the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee of the majority of the Olympic works has been completed – 41 out of 70 have been received – Nicolas Ferrand's nights are not yet peaceful. “What’s keeping us from sleeping? We are following the work of the Colombes swimming pool as well as that of the Grand Palais very closely,” declared the general director of the Olympic Works Delivery Company (Solideo) during a hearing on Tuesday, May 7, by the deputies. of the monitoring group for the preparation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP).
The Colombes swimming pool (Hauts-de-Seine) should normally host synchronized swimming training this summer. But the renovation project, started in May 2022, has fallen behind schedule, to the point that a plan B was considered a few months ago in the event of too much slippage. “As the work progressed, we realized that the structure was in worse condition than [what] the first surveys that we had been able to do [had shown], which caused a certain number of shifts », recalled Mr. Ferrand.
The presence of asbestos was notably discovered, but also and above all that of rusty ironwork making it necessary to redo the fixings of the equipment structures. Delivery of the renovated swimming pool was initially scheduled to take place at the end of December 2023, then June 1, 2024. “We are working closely with the Colombes town hall, which is the project owner” and the equipment “should be transferred to Paris 2024 on June 26", i.e. less than a month before the start of the competitions, assured Mr. Ferrand.
“We can’t say we’re ahead”
Regarding the work on the Grand Palais in Paris, which will host the fencing and taekwondo competitions, Paris 2024 certainly took the keys on April 19. However, work is still in progress within the monument. “We cannot say that we are ahead, but that has no impact on the organization of the Games,” argued Mr. Ferrand.
“For all the places linked to the competition, such as the large nave, which was the most urgent subject, there is no subject,” added the general director of Solideo. But we continue to work on certain spaces, like the galleries on the floors, where there are exhibitions in general. There were a lot of twists and turns, especially with the elevators.”
A pre-visit by the safety commission in mid-April, which led to the identification of points which were not compliant, added some additional work. “This pre-visit took place sufficiently early in relation to the visit which will take place in July to be able to integrate the recommendations of the firefighters,” explained Mr. Ferrand, while emphasizing that “a certain number of spaces are in the process of to be completed and will be handed over to Paris 2024 gradually
At the end of May, everything will be finished, recently assured Daniel Sancho, the project director for the Réunion des musées nationaux, project manager of the rehabilitation operation. “This will be more than enough to put in place the required arrangements in these spaces which will accommodate the training and pre-warming rooms, the room for anti-doping tests, the security PC installations…”.
