The Customer
Loisinord ski slope in Northern France is a 30 minutes drive from Lille and 1.5 hours from Paris and Brussels. In the late 1990’s, despite Briton Engineering Developments entering a design and putting forward a bid, the local council decided to opt for a seemingly cheaper moulded plastic surface. The surface had a negative effect on custom and the slope was closed soon after. In 2002 the local council decided to try and re-open the facility and Briton’s designs and Snowflex® were back in the running as the surface material of choice.
The BriefBriton were to remove the failed injection-moulded surface, re-sculpt the earth to bring the slope in line with today’s market requirements and install the proven Snowflex® system throughout. Integral in the overhaul was the slope design Briton is world-famous for which included rails, half pipes, kickers, moguls etc.
Our Solution
Briton was familiar with the story. Dull, dangerous, unchallenging and unprofitable needed to become daring, dependable, interesting and profitable! Over the space of six months the 300m long slope was transformed into a skiers and snowboarder’s paradise. A variety of features evolved on the slope including the world’s largest kicker at 2.5m high, an Olympic sized half pipe, a fun box and rail along with a cornice drop-in at the top of the slope.
Facts and Features
Overall budget - GBP £1,700,000 (please note this was based on 2003/2004 contract rates and did not allow for any terrain and features shaping, drainage, misting & water re-cycling works, edgeboards, lighting or lift systems which were all supplied and carried out by the main contractor/others)
Main slope (Phase 1 & 2) - 9,300m2 Snowflex® installed
Nursery slope (Phase 3) - 1,200m2 Snowflex® installed
| Features included |
2 x kickers (inc world’s largest artificial kicker) |
| |
Olympic size half-pipe |
| |
Mogul run |
| |
Fun box
|
| |
Rail |
| |
Hip |
| |
Cornice drop-in |
Project Duration - Nine months
|
