In his office in Albacete, Romain Llorca sometimes struggles to find his words in French. “Yet when I arrived in Spain, I only had a very basic level of Spanish and hardly ever spoke the language," laughed the Technical Manager of Eiffage Energía Sistemas' construction subsidiary Conscytec. “The amazing thing is that nothing predestined me for this career path!”
The story of Romain's involvement with Eiffage began during his engineering training in Marseille. He completed his first 2-month internship with the Group in 2007, followed by a 3-month internship in 2008, and then his final year project in 2009. After graduating, it was a logical step for him to approach Eiffage Construction, where he landed his first position as a design engineer, first in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, then in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. "I worked on a number of projects over 7 years, including a shopping centre in Miramas, near Marseille. A few months later, the customer launched a call for tenders for a similar project in Malaga, in southern Spain." In early 2017, Eiffage Construction's management offered him a three-week assignment to help out the Spanish teams. " I never went back!"
3 weeks... open-ended
Romain Llorca headed for Albacete, where he worked with the project teams from their Spanish headquarters. "The tender took much longer than expected. The 3 weeks turned into 3 months. At first, I struggled a bit with my Spanish, but being immersed in it made me progress very quickly. It wasn't long before I had no difficulty at all.”
In the end, a competitor won the project, but the engineer's Spanish adventure continued, this time in Barcelona. From April 2017 to November 2018, Romain supervised the engineering cell of 17-storey Torre Ciutat de Granada 150 in the Catalan capital, a 30-million-euro project for the Group. "After delivery, Spanish management offered to recruit me. In France, Eiffage Construction is a recognized and established player. Back then, in Spain, almost everything had yet to be achieved.”
Signature projects
So Romain settled in Albacete, where he became Technical Manager for Eiffage Energía Sistemas' construction subsidiary Conscytec. "I work closely with the Energy teams, who are directly involved in most of our projects. It's very rewarding to be able to share experience with the French teams, particularly those from Eiffage Construction. In Spain, construction has stayed much more traditional than in France, with little concrete and lots of bricks... a real asset when it comes to designing low-carbon buildings! Wood construction is also on the up, and we already have two completed buildings to our credit, two others under construction and another in the design phase."
He is currently working on iconic projects, such as the Spanish version of Le Puy-Du-Fou, near Toledo (central Spain), a venture to be carried out rapidly and in close cooperation with the Energy Branch.
"The Conscytec and Eiffage Energía Sistemas teams have always given me a warm welcome, which has made my induction much easier. Nothing was written down, nor mapped out, but the Group's flexible way of working made this path possible, without complex processes, ensuring smooth international mobility." And what about the future? "Who knows, if the Group has a need for expertise elsewhere in Europe... for 3 weeks, or more if the fancy takes me!"
Romain’s story in brief :
2009 : Civil engineering diploma – Polytech Marseille
2009 : Eiffage Construction design engineer in Nîmes, Montpellier and Miramas
2017 : Joins Eiffage Spain to supervise a tender in Malaga
2017-2018 : Design engineer, Barcelona
Since 2018 : Conscytec Technical Manager - Eiffage Energía Sistemas