28 years ago, Laurent Demange didn't really have a plan. Just a baccalaureate in hand, a desire to work, and the opportunity to come and help out thanks to a classmate. "Do you want to come and work a few days at TES Technifor?", Lilian asked him. He accepted, a bit out of curiosity, not knowing that he had just entered an adventure that would last several decades.
Hired by Patrick Champlon, he started by learning sawing from Maurice. "He had a way of passing on knowledge... says Laurent. I learned everything with him." Quickly, he found himself handling the saw, moving from site to site, discovering the life of a specialised worker. With his partner at the time, he spent almost ten years, sharing a daily routine marked by rigour, but also by friendship.
In 28 years in the profession, he has seen many projects come and go! From small openings in walls to extraordinary sites, like that bridge near Saint-Quentin in Aisne, lifted using... a barge and a 350-tonne crane. "That project, we did it with four people. It was crazy, and it stayed with me."
What still excites him today? The variety and the concrete dimension of the job. "When I pass through a town and see an opening or a sawn wall, I think to myself: I did that. We leave a mark, it's rewarding."
Beyond the construction sites, it's also the team spirit and family atmosphere that convinced him to stay. "Here, we learn from each other. We also laugh. I remember a colleague who got stuck in a core drilling hole... It took us a while to get him out, but it remains a memorable memory!"
28 years later, he's still here, loyal to his post, still driven by the same desire to do things well. Because at TES Technifor, it's not just the structures that stand the test of time. It's also the people.
