Mathis and PEFC at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

1 August 2024 Sustainable construction

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are seeing sustainability in practice, with PEFC-certified timber used in iconic venues like the Olympic Aquatic Centre.

In the construction of the Olympic Aquatic Centre, Mathis, a French company renowned for its expertise in constructing large wooden buildings, chose PEFC certification to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.

During construction, Mathis collaborated closely with management teams and general contractors, aiming to meet the high expectations of both the Olympic Committee and SOLIDEO, the organisation overseeing the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

The decision to use wood as the primary material helped SOLIDEO to meets its environmental goals. For Mathis, this meant ensuring that the wood used was not only high-quality but also sustainably sourced, resulting in 95% PEFC-certified wood in the Olympic Aquatic Centre.

“It is absolutely essential to ensure the best possible system, so we can say that we have certified wood. We are able to rely on a robust system because it carries the PEFC label,” explains Frank Mathis, CEO of Mathis.

“The fact that we have a certification system like PEFC obliges all companies to come into line. This expectation must go down the whole chain. The question doesn’t have to be whether you feel like it or not. Those who want to continue to work have to get involved. The whole chain has to be part of this.”

PEFC and the Olympics

The Paris Olympics Games are not the first Olympics to rely on PEFC certification to ensure the timber used in the construction of many of the iconic venues are from a sustainable source.

At the Tokyo 2020 Games, the indoor tennis court of the Ariake Tennis Park Club House achieved SGEC/PEFC project certification. The roof of this special venue was made from glue laminated timber (glulam) of SGEC/PEFC-certified Japanese larch wood, produced in Abashiri, Hokkaido in northern Japan.

Even further back, the London 2012 Olympic Park development achieved dual Project Certification from PEFC and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) schemes for its timber use, making it the first dual Project Certification in the world.