Steel Guru : Outokumpu to supply stainless steel for a French Hotel

Outokumpu has announced that it supplies stainless steel cladding materials for a major public building in France, conquering new ground in the country's building and construction industry.

It said that the sixth largest city of France, Nantes will also be home to a new breathtaking contemporary style public building for the regional administration. Named Hotel de Region, the building will be enveloped in stainless steel supplied by Outokumpu.

The five storey Hotel de Region combines historical elements with contemporary an arched stone gateway from Nantes' first power plant dating back to the 17th century, with an asymmetrical building shape and, the most striking aspect of the design, a curtain wall clad with stainless steel sheets that are laser cut decoratively to resemble organic forms. Light enters the building through this lacework of stainless. Once completed, the building will be a notable addition to contemporary stainless architecture.

Hotel de Region is also a landmark for Outokumpu. The project represents the Group’s largest project in the architecture, building and construction cluster in France to date.

Mr Jean Marc Vetal Outokumpu's local cluster head in France said that "The French market welcomes change, happy to see greater choice in suppliers and solutions."

The skin of Hotel de Region is supplied by Sofradi, a French company that manufactures metal curtain walls among its many specialties. With little previous experience in stainless steel, Sofradi contacted Outokumpu prior to winning the curtain wall contract. Sofradi explains that their reasons for contacting Outokumpu were familiarity with the company name and Outokumpu’s local presence in the Nantes region.

Mr Vetal explains that Outokumpu’s technical experts assisted Sofradi with the properties of various stainless steel grades and surfaces. He said that "We introduced to them several choices of grades."