Par
Maxime Berthelot
Published on
Nov 17, 2024 at 4:08 p.m.
; updated on Nov. 17, 2024 at 4:12 p.m.
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Its mouth is enormous, waiting for its body which slowly comes to life in Mormant (Seine-et-Marne), in the hangars of the Concrete Artistic Workshop (AAB). “It’s abouta 30 m long dragon which will serve as a setting in the future Six Flags amusement park, under construction in Saudi Arabiareveals Sarah Niess-Rolly, communications and marketing director of the company. We make it in several piecesbecause it is intended to enter and exit a structure. It will be a dynamic decoration! » On the flanks of the beast, the artisans of the company are busy (read box below). The monster is taking colors. It must be said that he will leave for the Middle East at the beginning of 2025, direction Qiddiyanext to Riyadcapital of the Kingdom of Saud, where it will be one of the centerpieces of a project announced as “the largest theme park in the region”.
From design to installation
If ABB can boast of having been chosen to participate in the creation of a project of this scale, it is because it has established itself as one of the world references in the area. Based in Mormant since its creation at the end of the 1980s, the company today employs 120 people and will release nearly 14 million turnover in 2024.
“The adventure began in 1989, around a family business which specialized around making fake concrete rocksintended for leisure parksthanks in particular to thethe sprayed concrete techniquetraces Sarah Niess-Rolly. It was a niche at the time, very few people were offering it on the market. »
Among his historical customersa famous amusement park which will soon inaugurate a space dedicated to a queen who came from the cold, but also Parc Astérix, which opened its doors the same year as the creation of AAB and for which the company made a myriad of menhirs.
“Recently, we also created the visitor route and the decorations for the new Festival Toutatis attraction. A one-year project which notably consisted of installing fake rocks with integrated LEDs,” says the marketing director.
Elsewhere in France, the Briarde company has carried out numerous construction sites : the Gallo-Roman alley which leads to the gladiator arena of Puy-du-Fou (Vendée), the Tornado Hunters attraction for the Futuroscope of Poitiers (Vienne), the facade and the main avenue of the Walygator Grand Est park, located Maizières-lès-Metz (Moselle), the entrance to the Cosquer cave has Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), or even the scenography from the museum of La Cité de l’histoire of Defense has Puteaux (Hauts-de-Seine).
Finally, AAB also brought its know-how to Seine-et-Marne.
“We signed the design of the extension ofParrot World park, Crécy-la-Chapelle , the facade ofProvinois aquatic center, Provinceand redesigned the interior spaces of the Sea Life Aquarium, Val d’Europe“, explains Sarah Niess-Rolly.
Each time, the company offers a support from A to Zof story telling to the completion of all or part of the project, in its workshops or on site, through the design via its design office. “It is then up to the client to choose whether they give us precise specifications or whether they give us more freedom. »
Offer visitors the most immersive experience possible
Because that is the success of the Concrete Artistic Workshop. After buying the company, Nicolas Feldkircher the general director of AAB, wanted to capitalize on the company's initial activity, to diversify at a time when image and immersive experiencesare on the rise.
In 2019, he acquired The 5-legged Factory specialized in the decorations to television(Secret Story, Burger Quiz, Taratata, CNewsRTBF…), then in 2024, the marketing agency Emocio, headed by Sarah Niess-Rolly.
“With this 360 universe, AAB is today capable of offer complete experiencess, she explains. This is more convenient for customers who no longer have to contact several different people to get everything we offer. For them, it is added value . We take care of everything, which allows them to save money of scale. »
A team of talented craftsmen
Carpenters, upholsterers, painters, sculptors, locksmiths… After the work of the design department at the basis of any project, the artisans of the Concrete Artistic Workshop (AAB) enter the scene under the leadership of Dani Martins, the workshop manager .
Masks on their faces, here they are painting the dragon of a future Saudi amusement park (above and opposite), or adding the final touches (with their finger!) to one of the many sets built each year in the company's workshops, based in Mormant.
“Some of our employees are experienced, but we also have work-study students, because we have recruitment problems in sometimes very specialized professions,” explains Sarah Niess-Rolly, marketing director of the company.
Equipped with a state-of-the-art robot capable of working polystyrene, AAB also specializes in the use of Bfup (ultra-high performance fiber concrete) to create refined designs, such as that of the new facade of Gare Lyon Part-Dieu. “It also happens that we look for decorative elements elsewhere, like recently an English telephone booth that we found in Savoie on leboncoin,” confides the manager.
Finally, the company also has its technicians who install and dismantle the sets when they are temporary.
With the stated objective of become an entertainment number in the field of leisure, the Seine-et-Marnaise company also works in other sectorsof activity. The radioincreasingly filmed, fashion, luxury, the hotel industry, the company but also shopping centerset pop-up shops they are also in tune with the times.
“We help our customers answer the following questions: how take care of a visitor upon his arrival? How make him stay ? What experience are we going to give him? How are we play on your emotions et make him stay as much as possible so that he consumes, leaves a positive opinion and he comes back? That’s what’s at stake,” concludes Sarah Niess-Rolly.
Latest projects in progress: an aquatic space au Beauval Zoopark(Loir-et-Cher) and a museum dedicated to the slave trade under construction in Benin (Africa). The latter will take the form ofa boaton which the teams from the Concrete Artistic Workshop are working, but this time directly on site!
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