Complexity that works
30 Jul 2010
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Robert Arnoux
Frank Briscoe, Director of F4E and °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Director-General Osamu Motojima sign the agreement that makes the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ site available to Fusion for Energy. Also present are Harry Tuinder, Legal Adviser to the Director-General and Tim Watson, Head of the Civil Construction & Site Support Office.
A lot of legal work has been performed these past weeks at the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Organization.
On Tuesday 6 July the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ site, while remaining CEA property, was by notary deed to the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Organization. Less than three weeks later, °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ and CEA legal representatives met again in Paris to sign a sale deed for the existing site installations (Visitors Centre, technical buildings, storm basins, etc.).
By way of these two deeds, °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ now holds "full rights" to the land and buildings and will retain them for the duration of the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Agreement—that is, until 24 October 2042.
While the overall responsibility of the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ site and existing buildings rests with the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Organization, actual construction work will be conducted mainly by Agence °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ France for the future Headquarters building; and by the European Domestic Agency (F4E) for all the buildings that constitute the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ facility.
On 26 July, °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Director-General Kaname Ikeda proposed to Jérôme Pamela, Director of Agence Iter France, to "delegate temporarily"—meaning until completion of the Headquarters building by the end of December 2011—the responsibility of health, safety, environment protection and logistics on the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ worksite to Agence Iter France/CEA.
Three days later, Kaname Ikeda's successor Director-General Osamu Motojima and Frank Briscoe, Director of F4E, signed an agreement that made the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ platform available to F4E in order to "undertake the construction of the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ buildings and site infrastructure."
Complicated? "In appearance only," says Harry Tuinder, the Legal Advisor to the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Director-General. "Every large construction site—and °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ is one of the largest in the world—has to face this kind of challenge. We have set up an °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¸ßÊÖ Site Steering Committee that will coordinate, under our responsibility, Agence Iter France and F4E's activities on the worksite. Everything is now ready, and earlier than we expected, to enter the construction phase."