"We maintain strict control of investments and costs, while continuing to develop new assets (...) Among these assets is our Triangle tower office project in Paris, in partnership with AXA IM Alts, whose construction has begun," said Chairman Jean-Marie Tritant in the group's annual results release.
On Wednesday, after two months of preparatory work, silos several meters high had already taken place on the site, which should be completed in the first half of 2026.
With 180 meters high and 42 floors, the Tour Triangle would become the third tallest building in Paris once completed, behind the Eiffel Tower and the Montparnasse Tower.
The project, launched in 2008, was validated in 2015 under the mandate of Anne Hidalgo despite the strong opposition of her environmental allies and right-wing elected officials including Philippe Goujon, the mayor (LR) of the 15th arrondissement where she will rise .
“The neighborhood will be devastated for several years”, he was indignant with AFP, already denouncing an “uninterrupted broom of trucks which will deliver concrete, four giant cranes …”
The Paris prosecutor's office also opened a preliminary investigation in June for "favoritism" around the concession on which the tower is to be built.
Entrusted to the URW group for eighty years, in exchange for an annual fee of 2 million euros paid to the town hall, the building must house more than 91,000 square meters of surface area, three quarters of which will be devoted to offices.
The project also includes a 230-room hotel, a crèche and shops.
A scale model of the future Triangle Tower, designed by the Herzog & de Meuron agency, presented at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal in November 2014, in Paris JOEL SAGET AFP / Archives
The promoter boasts of a "reversible" building, with uses that can change over time, and with minimal environmental impact.
URW, which is working to get out of debt, sold 70% of its shares in the project and operates it as a joint venture with the insurer Axa.
© 2022 AFP