Ruth Tanner (asker) Aug 12, 2019:

Thanks so much, BD and Tony, for your help with this!

Tony M Aug 8, 2019:

@ Asker Yes, that all makes a lot more sense now, with that extra context, and as BDF has explained it.
I think the reason it appears on the same line is simply that it would be out of place on a line of its own in what is otherwise a list of plans.

B D Finch Aug 8, 2019:

@Asker It seems perfectly logical, and fits the information you have had from the agency, that this is a plan showing the position of the connection points with a label either on each point or elsewhere on the plan showing the volume or power required for each utility concerned. However, it is not clear (and shouldn't matter for your translation of this particular instance of the term), whether the volume/power is given for each connection point or as an overall figure. As I've just noted below, the "besoins" could include information that is not just quantitative.

Ruth Tanner (asker) Aug 8, 2019:

More documentation from the client I think you have a valid point, Tony, but then I wonder why "besoins" is included on the same line? Most of the main headings in this document are to do with the various "plans". The first few are as follows (omitting the sub-headings):

Plan de masse des aménagements paysagers
Plan de localisation des attentes et besoins en fluides
Plan des démolitions
Plan des revêtements de sol
Plan des constitutions de sol
Plan des plantations

At my request, the agency sent me some further documents from the client to use as reference material. I’ve found a section that may be relevant in terms of the "liste des plans, calculs et dessins d'exécution". It says:

"Ils ont notamment pour objet de faire apparaître : … De faire figurer les besoins en énergie électrique et en EP et EU aux différents points de livraisons, avec leurs implantations et caractéristiques cotées."

Could this mean that the "besoins en fluides" do feature in the plan in that the location of the delivery points is marked?

B D Finch Aug 8, 2019:

@Tony Aha! Yes, one could substitute "plus" or "ainsi" for "et".

Tony M Aug 8, 2019:

@ BDF That's exactly my point here: the fact that there is no second 'des' very much points to the fact that the 'plan' applies only to the 'attentes' (which are physical and have a location), and not to the 'besoins', which are abstract and would be in the form of a list, spreadsheet, etc. rather than a drawing / plan.

B D Finch Aug 8, 2019:

@Asker + Tony This is rather odd, because though Tony's comment makes sense, I would have expected that to have been "Plan ... des attentes et des besoins en fluides. As you can't have a "Plan de localisation" of "attentes" in the expectations/requirements sense of the word, I think Tony must be right.

I tend to translate "fluides" as "utilities" as (a) one wouldn't use the term "fluids" here in English, and (b) the French "fluides" includes electricity, water, gas, or anything else that flows.

Tony M Aug 8, 2019:

@ Asker I suspect you may be parsing this slightly wrongly: I understand it as the 'plan de localisation des attentes' (= where the pre-installed (fluid) connections are located) + 'besoins en fluides' — how much water, what electrical power, etc. might be required.

So I don't think this is probably 'provisional', so much as 'pre-installed' — e.g. for connection at a later date.