Solideo has held its second meeting between businesses and large groups responsible for building Olympic equipment ©Solideo

Solideo, the public body responsible for managing development operations ahead of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, has held its second meeting between businesses and large groups responsible for building Olympic equipment.

A total of 438 companies made the trip to Seine-Saint-Denis' Cité du Cinéma, in the heart of the Paris 2024 Athletes' Village.

According to the Charter for employment and territorial development, adopted in July 2018, 25 per cent of the amount of the contracts are accessible to very small enterprises (VSEs), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) structures.

The meetings, organised several times a year, aim to encourage the signing of contracts, while helping to accelerate the ecological transition of development.

Solideo has so far contracted nearly €30 million (£26.2 million/$33.5 million), including almost €12 million (£10.5 million/$13.4 million) with VSEs, SMEs or SSE structures – or 41 per cent of the amount of the contracts.

The body has 204 service providers, 135 of which are VSEs and SMEs, and nine of which are from SSE.

In November of last year, France's Prime Minister Édouard Philippe launched the construction of the Paris 2024 Athletes' Village, marking the start of building work at one of the two main projects for the Olympics and Paralympics.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet were also in attendance at a ceremony held on the 51-hectare site.

Construction is expected to last a total three years.

Organisers claim housing the Athletes' Village in Saint-Ouen, a commune of Seine-Saint-Denis, will help rejuvenate a deprived area of the French capital.

The project has drawn criticism locally, however, amid concerns over the relocation of residents, businesses and schools.

Protests have been held in the region against the construction of the Village, but Paris 2024 director general Étienne Thobois insisted there would be "maximum effort to avoid expropriation of people that live in the area".