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Paul Ricard Institute: 600 m² aquaculture research centre in Southern France
CASE STUDY
QUANTITY 150 tanks
VOLUME 105 m3
LOCATION France
ARCHITECT
Luc Lacortiglia -T3 Architecture
The Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute is a non-profit organisation established in 1966 by Paul Ricard on an island off the French Riviera coastline.
On Les Embiez Island, the Paul Ricard Institute dedicates its research programs to the conservation of marine biodiversity, climate change, sustainable exploitation of living resources, and restoring coastal habitats. It focused first on the different sources of pollution affecting the Mediterranean Sea.
Objectives
The Paul Ricard Institute wanted to extend its experimental capacities to develop Integrated Multi Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) solutions and endangered marine species reproduction models.
The Paul Ricard Institute required custom-made fish tank systems for their new 600 m² aquaculture research centre to support projects such as:
- Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA): The aim is to experiment with how farming several species together in the same tank can make it more efficient and environmentally friendly. The key idea is that the waste produced by one species can feed another, transforming waste into a resource.
- New innovative feed for sustainable and environment-friendly aquaculture (NAIADE): This project aims to develop an alternative feed to fishmeal based on insect proteins. Scientists assess the adaptation of fish species to a new food source and analyse their growth rate compared with a classic feed.
Currently, the aquaculture research centre focuses on the following marine species:
European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)
European Edible sea urchin (Echinus esculentus)
Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis)
Common periwinkle (Littorina littorea)
Sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca)
Sea grass (Posidonia oceanica)
The requirements for this project represented a total of 150 fish tanks. Here are the specifications below, depending on the area:
- Greenhouse IMTA aquaculture laboratory: 11 tanks up to 1800 L, such as fibreglass circular tanks, semi-square tanks, raceway tanks, and cone bottom tanks inside a high-ceiling space with 80% glazing on the walls and roof.
- Modular laboratories & clean rooms: 109 fish tanks from 30 to 1500 L inside laboratories with removable walls and a multiplicity of inlets/outlets to give flexibility for current and future research projects and teams. The types of fish tanks include fish tank rack systems and fish egg incubators.
- Technical rooms: seawater and tap water intake, primary water, compressed filtered air and wastewater treatment.
Challenges
- Modularity: The key success factor of this project was to provide a flexible aquaculture research facility that can fit new protocols every 6 months. We had to design a piping diagram with as many water inlets and drainage pipes as possible to divide the 600 m² space into up to 12 separate laboratories. Each minimum space needed 2 thermoregulated filtered seawater inlets, 2 non-filtrated seawater inlets, 2 tap water inlets, 2 compressed air inlets and 2 drain outlets, totalling 120 inlets and outlets.
- Prophylaxis: Ensure strict prophylaxis to avoid contamination between the 7 different loops (primary seawater intake, filtered seawater, non-filtered seawater, osmosis tap water, compressed filtered air, aquaponics treated wastewater, contaminated wastewater), design a layout with separate access for the quarantine zone, and recommend forward workflows with decontamination measures for workers.
What we did
The Paul Ricard Institute hired Luxaqua for its project’s design and engineering study. From the requirements analysis to the detailed piping layout design, this project happened over 9 months as follows:
01
Client interview & requirements analysis – 2 weeks
We started the initial project phase with a video conference with the stakeholders. It allowed us to get a first understanding of the requirements, objectives and budget of the project. We carefully analysed the gathered information to provide clarity and a rough estimate regarding technical solutions and costs. For such an ambitious project, the task allocation between the internal teams and external service providers was at the heart of the discussions.
After 2 weeks of working on our initial idea, we organised an on-site meeting. It involved visiting the premises and having informal meet-ups. To ensure effective project coordination, meeting the contact persons of IT, operations, and procurement departments is always a key success factor. Before getting into the design details, we conducted a hazard and critical point analysis to optimise flows, technical room layout and disinfection measures.
02
Concept design – 2.5 months
During the preliminary design phase, our team dedicated their efforts to creating a Preliminary piping and Instruction Diagram (PID) with multiple inlets and outlets for each loop to offer maximum flexibility for using the available laboratory space between currents and future research projects.
We communicated our preliminary technical requirements to the architect and the structure, mechanical, electrical and HVAC engineers and submitted a financial rough estimate to our client for approval. We finalised the concept design through rounds of questions and revisions; it allowed the architect to ask for the construction permit.
Architect : Luc Lacortiglia
03
Detailed design development – 6 months
We completed the detailed design phase by calculating and incorporating technical details such as the diameter of every single pipe and the exact piping layout. We sent our piping under the slab and wall penetration requirements to the structure engineers and the high-voltage/low-voltage wiring details to the electrical engineers.
Based on the requirements of modularity and prophylaxis, the final design taking had 7 different loops that never crosses each other:
- Primary seawater intake: a 10 m3 buffer tank to decant solid particles and also offer temporary storage in case of pollution, mechanical filtration, UV sterilisation, thermoregulated with heaters and coolers
- Filtered seawater: rough mechanical filtration and thermoregulation
- Non-filtered seawater: untreated but thermoregulated
- Osmosis tap water: filtered with reverse osmosis
- Compressed filtered air: to add oxygen to the water
- Treated wastewater: pre-treatment with an aquaponics filtration system between algae and fish, the waste of one is the food of the other, mechanical filtration, biologic filtration with bioballs, UV sterilisation before being released in the sea
- Contaminated wastewater: For specific experimentation and evaporation tanks, bags of dry residues are sent to a specialised treatment facility
Our final design also included 17 Aquatic Life Support Systems (ALSS) and Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) to control and maintain physical and chemical water parameters (temperature, salinity, O2 concentration, etc.) according to experimental protocol requirements.
Outcome
The project led to an investment over a million euros that fulfilled the client’s needs. Here are some of the media coverage this facility received:
Here are some of the media coverage this new facility received:
The Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute is now also a user of our fish colony management software, Fishlab.