Home, sweet home

Over the last months we witnessed it being built, bit by bit, and we anticipated the moment we would move in. Then, on Thursday, the day had finally come: together with representatives of the Region and the local communities, the ITER Organization celebrated the inauguration of its new Headquarters which will be the new "home" for many ITER employees over the next three years until the concrete offices take shape.

"This building is the result of true cooperation of different actors," Didier Gambier, Director of the European Domestic Agency pointed out in his address. "Built with EUR 5.6 million of financial support from the European Union, on a site that has been levelled and prepared by Agence Iter France, it will from now on host 300 staff of the ITER Organization, amongst them the Director-General."

Celebrating the inauguration of the new ITER Headquarters was clearly a remarkable day in the progress of the project and fully deserved to be celebrated with champagne and a delicious cake. But, as the Director of Agence Iter France, François Gauche, said, "the work does not stop here." More than 250 people, mostly from the Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur (PACA) region are currently engaged in finalizing the site levelling works which are expected to be completed at the beginning of 2009. This will be followed by the excavation for the Tokamak Complex and the laying of the first foundations for the annex buildings expected to take place at the end of 2009.