The Euratlantic program "almost finished" in Bordeaux according to its director

Hyperion wooden tower project in the Euratlantique district in Bordeaux -

• Stephan de Faÿ announces that “in the next three years, things will really start to be seen”, notably with the delivery of the Hyperion tower in early 2021, and the Belvédère district in 2023.

• He ensures that the ecological transition is now integrated, since “all the projects that we launch are made up of at least 65% of local wood.

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• The general manager also confirms that he could soon leave the development establishment, since he is in the running to join Greater Paris.

The huge Euratlantique project, which extends over 730 hectares around the Saint-Jean station, in the municipalities of Bordeaux, Bègles and Floirac, has come halfway.

Launched ten years ago, this OIN (Operation of National Interest) should in fact be completed in 2030. “Across the entire scope, we are at around 60-70% of committed projects, and 15 to 20 % delivered ”estimates the managing director of Euratlantique, Stephan de Faÿ, who assures us that“ in the next three years things will really start to show.

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takes stock with the boss of this huge urban operation, which he has been piloting for six years.

Has there been a delay on certain achievements due to the Covid crisis?

Overall, we lost three months on projects, no more than that.

There is not even a delay at all for the Hyperion tower [57 m tower made up partly of wood], which will be delivered at the beginning of 2021. Overall, the machine has not stopped.

Euratlantique is an operation that takes place more on the right bank than on the left bank from now on?

We have even made good progress on the right bank, since we can say that the Deschamps / Belvédère sector, from the developer's point of view, is finished, even if the deliveries of buildings will be made in about two years.

In general, in Bordeaux itself, the Euratlantic program is almost finished, since around 90% of the projects have been started.

There are not many subjects which remain to be regulated, except for some land which belong to the SNCF, and the quai de la Souys on the right bank.

Large public square project in the future Belvédère district, in the Euratlantique perimeter in Bordeaux - GGau-A2studio

How are relations going with the new mayor Pierre Hurmic?

Pierre Hurmic is a very attentive and demanding person.

For him, we are no longer in the age of symbols for ecology, it is a question of industrializing the ecological transformation of society.

We find ourselves in this observation.

Take wood construction: yes, we used the Hyperion tower as a symbol, but for the benefit of one goal, which was to transform the way of doing things.

And since 2019, all of the projects we are launching are made up of at least 65% local wood.

On revegetation, an important aspect of Pierre Hurmic's program, is Euratlantique ticking the boxes too?

Euratlantique gives more space to nature than there was before.

In the Jardin d'Ars district, there must have been 2,000 m2 of green spaces before the operation, there we are in the process of building a 7.5 hectare park, and I am not even talking about all the other islets. .

View of the future Jardin de l'Ars, in the Euratlantique district in Bordeaux.

- OLM Landscapers

The challenge is also to control the exit price of housing, which continues to climb in Bordeaux ... Are you succeeding?

The report of the Court of Auditors has just underlined that the action of Euratlantique makes it possible to reduce the average price of new housing, by 2,000 euros compared to the whole of the municipality of Bordeaux.

We are actually at 3,700 euros per m2, against 5,700 euros in Bordeaux, according to the latest figures from the South West Observatory [the price of new housing throughout the metropolis is 4,400 euros according to the Federation of Property Developers ].

How do you get there, thanks to the construction costs, the land price?

The construction costs in Bordeaux are a disaster.

In six years, we have gone from 1,200 euros per m2 to 2,200 euros.

Cost of materials, difficulty in recruiting labor, there are several explanations for this… And the Ile-de-France construction sites are very aspiring, with the Greater Paris network.

At one point, you had to book several months in advance to find a crane in Bordeaux because the equipment was in Paris!

So, it is by acting on land that we pull prices down.

Our policy is to preempt land when prices start to soar.

Euratlantique also includes cultural projects, in particular an aquarium on the right bank, and a place to be defined in the Gattebourse market in the Jardin d'Ars.

Where we are ?

These two projects are among the question marks I have with the new municipality.

The aquarium project has not been abandoned at all, we were even ready at the beginning of March to launch the choice of the architect, but with the Covid crisis and the change of municipality, we decided to wait a bit.

The positive point is that there is an educational project around the oceans which is attractive, the negative point is that it plays an urban attractor role, and I have the feeling that it is not the priority of Pierre Hurmic… So, to see.

On the Gattebourse hall, there is another factor that comes into play, which is that the financial round is difficult to complete, and when a project is hard to set up, it is never a good sign.

And what about the Eiffel footbridge?

The Eiffel footbridge in Bordeaux will be fitted out to accommodate pedestrian and cyclist traffic.

Photo: Sebastien Ortola - S. ORTOLA / 20 MINUTES

This is progressing, even if it remains complicated in terms of study.

The idea that emerges is to reconstruct the boom that existed until the early 1980s, which allowed the footbridge to be walked outside, because inside we plan to install somewhat unusual places - artists and restaurants - in wooden modules in the shape of wagons.

It is the architect Julien Vincent who is at the origin of the idea.

Last question: the Bordeaux rumor gives you on the departure… Is it true?

I do not know.

I was offered to join Grand Paris Aménagement, and I did not say no.

But the recruitment process is not over, and I am not alone in the running… Euratlantique is fascinating, I am in Bordeaux, but Grand Paris is an extraordinary wealth, with 85 development projects anyway. .

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• Housing

• Pierre Hurmic

• Immovable

• Town planning

• Aquitaine

• Bordeaux