Teknos fire protection for
Djokovic, Murray & Co.

Teknos fire protection for Accor Hotels Arena in Paris

The Tennis Masters in Paris ended with a finale between the two world ranking leaders Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. The important tournament was the first large-scale event after the extensive renovation of the traditional stadium. The area was opened in October after 18 months of construction. The final work had been completed only hours before – including the fire-retardant coating for the ceiling panelling with TEKNOSAFE 2467 Colourless.

Top address for sports and concerts

Like the Madison Square Garden in New York, the 21,000-seat AccorHotels Arena
(formerly Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy) on the banks of the Seine in Bercy is one of the most prominent stadiums in the world. Completed in the early 80s, the futuristic structure was the venue for many large sports events ranging from the indoor track and field championship to basketball and European basketball and gymnastics championship and the ATP tennis tournament. World stars like Eric Clapton, Madonna, Phil Collins and Shakira have all performed in
concert here. In view of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the Bercy 2014/15 was thoroughly renovated with construction costs of € 96 million and renamed the AccorHotels Arena once the name rights had been acquired. The
drafts for the new design were drawn up by Parisian architectural office DVVD, while the execution was handled by general contractor Bouygues Construction, which is part of the French group Bouygues S.A. With 130,000 employees and € 32 billion in turnover, the group is one of the most prominent corporations in the world.

Ceiling panelling with Teknos paint

One of the most striking changes to the AccorHotels Arena was the ceiling panelling. It is made up of oak boards with a profile thickness of 40 x 20 mm. 6,000 square metres of ceiling were clad this way – in total, 75,000 running metres of boards were installed. Fire protection was of great importance here. The contract for fire protection coating went to TEKNOSAFE 2467 Colourless from Teknos. “What we needed was a colourless, fire-retardant coating which does not detract from the natural appearance of the oak, a coating which can be applied on the boards installed and which fulfils the required M1 fire protection class,” explains Denis Vallet, Project Director of Bouygues Construction who was in charge of the construction project. “The Teknos coating met these requirements perfectly.” The contact on site was the company Taylux, Teknos’ sales partner for the French market. “With the dedicated support of fire protection specialists and application technicians at Teknos, we initially produced the required certificates and classifications,” says Yves Trias, Sales Director at Taylux. “This is how we verified that TEKNOSAFE 2467 Colourless meets fire protection class M1, the French equivalent of Euroclass B (B,s1, d0).”

Overnight delivery

Another challenge was logistics. “The opening date was set in stone and the project was already in the home stretch, leaving only a very tight timeframe for coating,” says Yves Trias. “Thanks to Teknos Denmark, we were able to delivery 1,200 litres of TEKNOSAFE 2467 Colourless overnight for contractors to apply the coating.” Bouygues Construction commissioned the Portuguese company Di Viminho to produce, install and paint the ceiling panelling. Smooth teamwork between Teknos and Taylux also helped meet the deadline. The final boards were painted just a few hours before the ceremonial opening with Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo on 15 October.

Best reference for Teknos in France

“The stadium is a special place in Paris and we’re proud to have helped in the renovation,” Yves Trias exclaims enthusiastically.

“Everyone involved did a great job. The project is an excellent reference and will help us further expand Teknos’ position on the French wood coating market.”