René Le Rouzic: the man behind the Alicante Chassagne Towers
Episode #2 : pulling back the curtain on an audacious man
This year, the Alicante Chassagne Towers, also known by the acronym TAC (for their French name Tours Alicante Chassagne), are celebrating 30 years of existence. Inaugurated in October 1995, these two emblematic skyscrapers located at the heart of La Défense are not only an unmissable part of the business district’s skyline, they also mark a crucial milestone in our Company’s history.
At the end of the 1980s, when Paris was being modernised and La Défense was establishing itself as French capital’s economic backbone, the decision was made to build towers to meet the growing need for innovative and functional workspaces.
What were the key stages and major challenges of this audacious project? René Le Rouzic, former Societe Generale staff member and the Director of the project, provides us with a behind-the-scenes look at this colossal achievement.
Vision and determination: René le Rouzic’s legacy
Born in 1936 and haunted by the memory of the war, René Le Rouzic overcame his extremely humble beginnings to rise through the ranks within Societe Generale, devoted his entire career to the Company.
He joined the Group in 1950 as a porter*, a banking position that no longer exists. Over three decades later, in 1987, Marc Viénot, Societe Generale’s Chairman and CEO, entrusted him with the strategic mission of transferring the Bank’s central services to La Défense. This ambitious project, which he today remembers as “an unbelievable human adventure”, would take several years. His mission? Create a new tower whilst modernising the Company’s IT infrastructures; a vital need for the Group given how dispersed its central services building stock was at the time, rendering it poorly suited to the requirements of a modern bank and costing a lot to manage.
One team, one objective: the essence of the project
To successfully undertake this project, René Le Rouzic put together a small team of 10 people, each of them having a specific role, whether it be budget and schedule management, real-estate programming, IT or communication. “This team was essential to coordinate the project’s various aspects. It brought together a broad range of fields of expertise enabling it to provide an effective response to the many challenges”, René says.
Persuade to modernise
One of the project’s key challenges lay in the unification of the various Divisions’ IT departments, each of which had developed their own systems and messaging service. “It was a unique opportunity to group all of these IT teams together at Head Office level, in the tower, and to have a common messaging service. However, at the same time, this rendered an already highly complex project considerably more complicated”, René le Rouzic recalls.
The aim of this integration was to create a unified IT infrastructure, fostering better communication and modernising the work tools. “We needed to be persuasive to unify everyone’s efforts and modernise our infrastructures, and that proved to be one of our biggest challenges”, René explains.
Reactivity and proactivity: key to the project’s success
“We had a firm deadline to meet, as we had agreed to vacate, by a specific date, our premises in the Edouard VII complex in the Opera district that had been occupied by our central services since 1923”, René reminisces.
To ensure these deadlines were met, he implemented a responsiveness standard with regard to decision making, demanding that each request receive a response within 24 hours. This proactive approach allowed the project to stay on track despite the inevitable vicissitudes associated with a project of this size.
Navigating change: a challenge needing to be tackled
The project also needed to overcome cultural resistance, notably regarding the workspace changes. “Employees, used to external signs of power such as large offices and luxurious carpets, expressed their concern regarding the standardisation of offices”, René recollects. Communication and awareness-raising were pivotal to allaying these fears and encouraging staff to accept change.
Despite the project’s complexity, René Le Rouzic also decided to devote part of the budget to works of art. “This choice helped give the new head offices a cultural dimension, contributing to an inspiring and stimulating work environment”, he adds.
A model of collective success
The project was successfully completed in 1995, on time and on budget. This success was hailed as an example of efficient collaboration and commitment within Societe Generale.
We would like to thank René for sharing his experience and valuable memories that, by taking us 30 years back in time, are a reminder that Societe Generale has continually advanced with the times and adapted to technological and human changes.
* In 1934, Societe Generale created a school for porters to enable young assistants with the means to more easily climb the corporate ladder. Porters were not just in charge of welcoming customers. Highly versatile, they stamped bills for discount or encashment, transported the post, passed on the Branch Manager’s instructions and – if the circumstances required it – ensured the site’s security.