Meet Fabien Bernadac, Tractebel's project manager in Building and Territory Unit in France

I first discovered Tractebel during my site engineer internship at university. The more I discovered about this company the more I wanted to join it. 

After graduating I applied for a position in the Building and Territory Unit (URBAN France) and I was hired. I was very excited because Tractebel is well known for the great complexity of projects in which it is involved. Through these projects I knew that I had the opportunity to grow as an engineer. 

I started as a Design Engineer in the Nîmes branch, and am currently a Project Manager in Lyon. After 7 years in Tractebel, I had the chance to work on prestigious projects with international architects of worldwide fame such as Renzo Piano, Valode & Pistre among others. These projects helped me experience many different aspects of my job on a daily basis. 

In my line of work, Tractebel’s role is to deliver buildings that meet the architect’s wishes and  the client’s needs, while keeping all project stakeholders satisfied. My role as a project manager is to keep the project moving along by staying in contact with clients, other engineering consultancies, and the construction companies.

Currently, in all complex building projects, project stakeholders use BIM (Building Information Modelling) and they progressively update the 3D model with new input data. This dialogue facilitates problem-spotting and allows technical solutions to be found in a more efficient way. Because we provide a high-level technical solution, we assist the construction company throughout all the detail design.

Being a project manager means simultaneously treating many topics which are of a different nature but which are linked. It is challenging and requires thinking outside the box, as well as being thorough.

At the moment, I am delighted to be working on the Mareterra project. It’s the Monaco offshore extension project, and involves creating a ‘Mediterranean-style eco-community’ on 6 hectares of land reclaimed from the sea.

This project requires high-level technical skills and great organisation.

We notably have to manage several client teams (covering the foundation, infrastructure and superstructure teams), architect and landscape teams, control office teams, and State teams.

I have also had the chance to work on Urban Garden, the new ENGIE regional headquarters project for Lyon. 

The aim of this project was to reach high sustainability, and official human relationship and biodiversity standards. Urban Garden has obtained BREEAM, OsmoZ and Biodivercity certificates.

Working at Tractebel has been an incredible journey so far, and I look forward to the many challenges ahead. There’s always something new and exciting around the corner.