ECO DESIGN:
THE FUTURE OF MARINE CONSTRUCTION ?

French marine construction is a strategic sector which owes its success to the development of advanced technologies and its capacity for innovation. Today the environment is at the heart of concerns related to this industrial sector. In the Pays de la Loire Region, a specific programme has been developed by NEOPOLIA and a consortium of businesses within the domain of marine eco design or ‘sustainable’ marine design. Its objective: to find global and optimal solutions for the protection of the environment.

INNOVATION AT THE SERVICE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

A unique tooling christened Project SSD (Sustainable Ship Design) now enables a vessel’s environmental profile to be determined. SSD evaluates its impact on the environment during its entire lifecycle, from the materials chosen for its construction and its assembly at the yard, to its use, its maintenance and its dismantling.

An assessment of the impact on the environment is carried out over the various stages of its life according to specific criteria: ecotoxicity of the environment, eutrophication (proliferation of algae and destruction of the flora and fauna), global warming, atmospheric acidification, destruction of the ozone layer, human toxicity, fine particle emissions, exhaustion of natural resources, flow indicators (water and energy consumption, waste production).

As such, the environmental profile of a military frigate, passenger ship, cargo vessel, yacht or cruiseliner can be analysed throughout their entire respective lifecycles.

SSD, A COMPETITIVE EDGE
FOR THE FRENCH MARINE INDUSTRY

A common platform has been put in place enabling all the protagonists involved in marine construction and repair to discover precisely what the impact of their production is on the environment and give them an undeniable competitive edge in the long term.

The SSD project has a strategic appeal as it enables the sharing of data between companies in the same industry. It comprises one of the first global approaches to evaluating and reducing the environmental impact of a vessel.

With a budget of 300,000 Euros, half of it is financed by the DRIRE (a French regional organisation concerned with industry, research and the environment), the Pays de la Loire Region and the ADEME (an environmental agency dealing with the control of energy output) and the other half is funded by businesses within the consortium (STX France Cruise SA, STX France Solutions, Auxitec Ingenierie, Bureau Veritas, Chantiers Baudet, DCNS, MYG Decking, Protecflam, Saint‐Nazaire Marine, Shipstudio, Soreel ).

NEOPOLIA, a network of 90 industrial businesses, is the project’s founder. The scheme is piloted by the SDI firm (Stirling Design International) and the company EVEA, a specialist in environmental assessment of eco design approaches, ensuring the development of tooling.

Exterior & interior design by SDI

SDI is currently working on 48 to 130ft sloop projects with innovative architectural concepts integrating as a prime concept the sea and the environment.

One of the latest trends in contemporary naval architecture is to connect internal volumes to the outside without the usual related disturbances.

Naval architect Thibaut Tincelin succeeds in drawing cruising yachts that enjoy a high degree of comfort, whatever the sailing circumstances, by designing units with adaptive volumes and sleek lines, fitted with removable streamlined roofs inspired by motor yacht hardtops.

When applied to a 110ft aluminium yacht, this approach allows to strike a balance between the traditional demand for wide internal volumes for the deck saloon and the space devoted to the outer cockpit.

The sleek lines of the roof are largely due to the revolutionary sliding hard top, divided into several smaller identical panels and easily operated. These hard top elements open as smoothly as traditional cockpit panels and disappear fully into dedicated lockers.

To meet thermal and environmental constraints, the glass panel over the deck saloon is highly ventilated. Curved glass used as a structuring component, matches the elegant aesthetics of the structure, enjoying reinforced thermal isolation thanks to a film of solar control.

When shut, the glass panels can be partly or totally covered with 30 m2 of high performance solar panels, thus providing welcome shade for the saloon and contributing significantly to energy saving.

Decidedly innovative to serve their clients, SDI apply design concepts that meet stringent ecology criteria, thus opening up new in-roads for energy consumption and building material.