BUILDING AND RENOVATING : THE DNA OF GJG

Faced with climate change, island territories are among the most exposed and vulnerable. GJG, well aware of these challenges, has decided years ago to adapt its activities to climatic changes and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, betting on renewable energies and energy transition.
In recent years, Guadeloupe has been hit by ten storms, six of which were major and two of which reached a category 5 level. Very recently, an earthquake with an epicenter located north of Martinique and a magnitude of 5.1 on the Richter scale was recorded in Guadeloupe. In the face of these major risks, BPW professionals have to be uncompromising in terms of construction. In addition to the HQE standards, to which GJG adheres, the most vulnerable constructions known as “at risk” must be earthquake-proof and para-cyclonic, because whatever efforts are made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or to produce renewable energy, the risks of those cataclysms occurring could be reduced, but remain present.
Over the years, GJG has developed an expertise that allows it to place itself at the forefront of construction and construction companies in Guadeloupe and the Caribbean.

As evidence of this excellence in construction and engineering, GJG, through its company Sotradom, has been awarded the contract by the French state for the construction of the new University Hospital Center of Guadeloupe. On September 9, 2019, President Macron laid the foundation stone, making a vibrant tribute to the island’s inhabitants and stating that this construction site was the largest ever to be 100% funded by the French state.
The University Hospital Center of Perrin, which is situated near the airport and the city center of Abymes, and of which the completion is expected in October 2024, is a true masterpiece of technicity. Built according to earthquake-proof and para-cyclonic standards, the sensitive buildings, such as the emergency rooms, the 14 operating theaters and the entire nuclear medicine department of the hospital complex will ultimately be stabilized by 216 earthquake-proof insulators, custom-built for the needs of this building.
Once in service, the new University Hospital of Guadeloupe will employ up to 3,000 people and will contribute to the development of the region by becoming a major pole of attraction for Guadeloupe and the Caribbean.
Aside from all these technical feats, the construction site has enabled the training and hiring of young Guadeloupeans who were able to exercise the various trades necessary to meet this challenge.

A recent study conducted by the County Council showed that nearly 30,000 housing units in Guadeloupe were unfit for habitation and that an ambitious plan was needed to enable these thousands of households, most of them with low incomes, to live in decent, renovated apartments worthy of accommodating them. This crisis is not new and in 2006 INSEE headlined “Housing in Guadeloupe; wide disparities in a changing housing stock”. An important fact brought up by the INSEE explains that nearly 1/4 of the rental housing on the island consists of social housing, that in the social rental sector Guadeloupeans value the environment over the quality of housing and finally that half of them aspire to become homeowners one day. In contrast to mainland France, and due to the island life, the property owners on the island have lower travel mobility and most of them have neither the desire nor the need to relocate. However, one out of every two tenants, whether they come from social sector housing or the independent private sector, express their desire to move and become homeowners.
Faced with the strong demand for social housing, new constructions by the BPW division of the Jacques Gaddarkhan Group are growing steadily, whether through rental programs or VEFA (Sales before Completion) sales, allowing in particular first-time buyers to become homeowners.