TOUR FIRST

Their plan was ambitious. The changes needed to be dramatic, but done quickly in a congested area of Paris. Rather than demolish the existing tower, the building would be stripped down and a new tower designed and constructed around the old metal framework. All this was achieved in remarkable time – just four years, from 2007 to 2011. As the business district of Paris grew over the years, so too did the number of people heading in and out of the old Tour AXA. Especially during the lunch time rush, handling capacity was an issue. Because the new building would use the same lift shafts, another solution had to be utilised through means other than adding new lifts. To achieve the required increase in people flow, KONE implemented its KONE Destination control system (DCS) with excellent results to the passenger lifts. The DCS uses intelligent assessment of vertical travel needs based on the floor selections of users to minimise the number of stops and optimise the vertical flow in the building. KONE’s solution delivered excellent eco-efficiency while nearly doubling the number of people who move throughout the tower.

• Completed: 2011
• Height: Tour AXA (old tower) 162 m; Tour First (new tower): 231 m
• Floors: Tour AXA (old tower) 40; Tour First (new tower) 51
• Total floor area: 80,000 sqm
• Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox and SRA
• Building owner: Beacon Capital Partners; AXA Real Estate (previous owner)
• Developer: Altarea Cogedim
• Contractor: Bouygues Bâtiment Ile de France
• Tenants: Ernst & Young and Euler Hermes (member of ALLIANZ)

• 18 KONE MiniSpace™ passenger lifts
  
• 2 KONE MiniSpace™ freight lifts
  
• 1 KONE MonoSpace® lift
  
• 3 KONE MonoSpace® freight lifts
  
• 4 KONE MonoSpace® parking lifts
• 2 KONE TravelMaster™ 110 escalators
• KONE Destination control system