In the new district of Baud-Chardonnet, the city of Rennes has decided to build in height.

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C. Allain / 20 Minutes

  • In Rennes, several high-rise building projects are under study.

  • These projects exceeding ten floors are increasingly contested by residents, who fear seeing their neighborhood disfigured and overwhelmed by a sudden influx of residents.

  • The elected official in charge of town planning explains that height must be seen as a solution to limit urban sprawl.

    And specifies that each project is carefully studied.

“I keep the memory of a city on a human scale.

There, I have the feeling of dehumanization.

I find that the density is oppressive ”.

Marie lives in an apartment on the ground floor of a small collective in the Pottery district in Rennes.

On the other side of the road, she sees the aging headquarters of landlord Aiguillon Construction.

A two-story building in delightful brown colors that the company plans to replace with a brand-new new headquarters about thirty meters high.

To balance the real estate transaction, Aiguillon has built an ambitious project on this plot, two-thirds of which belongs to the city, and hopes to build three buildings there, one of which was to culminate at 17 floors.

Thanks to the mobilization of the inhabitants, the tower was planed by five floors and will only count "only" twelve.

This protest organized by residents worried about living in the shade of a tower nearly fifty meters high is not specific to the Pottery district.

Elsewhere in Rennes, residents are mobilizing to challenge the densification of their neighborhood.

We could cite the Bâti Armor project at the corner of the road to Saint-Brieuc and Vezin, where 17 floors are planned.

Or the Haut Sancé ZAC project, in Landry.

“We knew there would be buildings and we are not against it.

We just say it needs to be thought through.

You have to look at the roads, the surrounding infrastructure such as schools, doctors.

We had been promised a consultation but it was a delicatessen ”, says Antoine, one of the most mobilized residents of the district.

In the city center, others are worried about the project led by Samsic, which should offer 24 floors perched above the station.

Unaccustomed to great heights, will the Breton capital have to force it?

Yes and no.

“We can't spread out, so if we want to keep our green belt, we don't have much choice.

Previously, we had urban wastelands like in Courrouze, Baud-Chardonnet or Beauregard.

From now on, 95% of housing will be built in areas already occupied, ”warns Marc Hervé.

"Building in height is not an obsession, it is a solution"

Deputy in charge of town planning, the socialist took over from Sébastien Sémeril, who liked to "treat" each entrance to the city with "a signal tower".

Some have seen the light of day, such as the 17-storey student residence overlooking Villejean, which did not pose any neighborhood problems.

But others have been revised, delayed or even abandoned.

“Building in height is not an obsession, it is a solution.

It must be parsimonious but it is essential, ”continues Marc Hervé, before explaining himself.

“If we want to maintain pavilions and small collectives, we have to have an emergence (a tower in less town-planning language).

Many residents have criticized the too systematic recourse to R + 4 or R + 5. We must break with monotony ”.

Height is also a means of "amortizing" the ever higher price of land.

Much higher when we rebuild than when we invest in wastelands.

In the Beauregard district of Rennes, a 17-storey tower is under construction.

- J. Gicquel / 20 Minutes

The problem is that opposite, the historic inhabitants of the districts appreciate this monotony.

Many of them find it difficult to accept that their environment is transformed.

Welcoming new residents is also synonymous with new issues such as parking, traffic and cohabitation.

“I wonder about the city we want.

Does the height promote neighborhood life?

»Asks Anthony, an inhabitant of the Pottery.

The latter, like many opponents of the Aiguillon project, has the impression that the municipality is moving forward to build.

Always faster, always higher?

“In order not to exclude, our city must continue to build.

Either we spread out, or we rise, ”answers Marc Hervé.

The local urban plan provides for the construction of 1,500 housing units per year in Rennes.

A figure that may seem disproportionate in view of the demographic growth of 0.5%.

But which can be explained by a phenomenon of "decohabitation".

In the Breton capital as everywhere else, families are separating and more building is necessary to make room for everyone.

Reindeer

Rennes: A large park, water, new housing… Will the plain of Baud be the new El Dorado?

https://www.ouest-france.fr/bretagne/rennes-35000/rennes-on-n-en-dort-plus-la-nuit-ces-riverains-mobilises-contre-la-future-tour-de- 17-floors-7113951

https://www.20minutes.fr/rennes/2179495-20171201-rennes-maisons-construites-toit-parking-pied-tour-17-etages

  • Nathalie Appéré

  • France

  • Skyscraper

  • Social housing

  • Construction

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  • Reindeer

  • Town planning