Page 16 - Book_Artelia_10years

Rhône river damming for the construction of Génissiat dam - France, 1939

Design plan for Khashm El Girba dam - Sudan, 1960

Sogreah,

the birth of a world-leading expert in water engineering

Sogreah was formed from the testing Laboratory of the Grenoble-based hydraulic equipment
manufacturer Neyrpic. In 1920, some employees, accustomed to using scale models to develop
their turbines, accepted a commission to design the intake of a new hydropower plant. A whole host
of projects were to follow in the wake of this assignment, among them irrigation systems, coastal
and river engineering projects, and industrial and urban facilities. In 1955, on the back of its growing
experience in consulting engineering, the Laboratory became Sogreah (SOciété GREnobloise d’Etudes
et d’Applications Hydrauliques), a company in its own right and a subsidiary of Neyrpic, the latter joining
the Alsthom group in 1967.
Business boomed for this newly independent entity. Employing fewer than 400 people in 1955, by 1968
the company boasted a workforce of more than 900, its turnover growing from 10 million to nearly Scale model of Chambon dam,
100 million francs over the same period. By this time it was handling large-scale irrigation projects in France, 1930-1935
Iran and Iraq as well as comprehensive design and construction supervision assignments for a first
dam project in Sudan, a port project in Somalia, and a water transmission scheme in Algeria, among
others. In 1965, it received the French government’s “Oscar de l’Exportation” in recognition of its work
in the international arena.

14 I ARTELIA, 10 YEARS OF EXISTENCE, 100 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE