two less banks and more trees, for ecologists delighted
In Wacken, Caisse d’Epargne and Crédit Mutuel have abandoned their head office and office projects in the future Archipel district. The municipal opposition is worried, but the green majority wants to take the opportunity to build more housing and make way for green spaces.
The previous term hoped for a new business district, the new municipality promises more housing and green spaces. In its second phase, the Archipelago project continues to be a symbol of municipal ambitions.
During his last mandate, the mayor of Strasbourg Ries (PS) responded favorably to requests from Crédit Mutuel and Caisse d’Epargne. On this vacant lot located between the new Maillon theater and the old Rhénus building, the old halls of the Parc des Expositions have been razed to the ground. To put what? Along the canal, between the Coubertin car park and the SIG room, Crédit Mutuel wanted to develop a real estate program of approximately 24,000 square meters. More in the center of the district, along boulevard de, the Caisse d’pargne, she, Dr’E Dr. set up its new headquarters there
But in November 2020, Crédit Mutuel finally gave up its office project, citing the health crisis and the boom in teleworking. A month later, the Caisse d’Epargne also abandoned its headquarters project, describing “an external context severely disrupted by the health crisis”.
“Archipel 2 will be a real place to walk”
Following these announcements, the opposition municipal councilor Pierre Jakubowicz was moved by these withdrawals, in a letter to the mayor of Strasbourg Jeanne Barseghian (EELV): “These new facts question the balance of the project and its functional diversity. The elected Agir fears that Archipel 2 no longer accommodates offices and other businesses in the fairly tertiary sector.
For environmentalists, the abandonment of the projects of the two banks allow them to distribute to zero over this vast expanse. The opportunity to shape a neighborhood with their prism, even faster than expected. The deputy mayor in charge of the resilient city Suzanne Brolly, is delighted not to reproduce the first phase of the project, located on the other side of the Boulevard de Dresden:
“Archipel 1 is too dense, too mineral. At the top of the towers, the view is beautiful. But living there is another choice. Archipel 2 will, on the contrary, be a real place for walking, a place of appeasement in a dense and hectic city. We will develop intelligent proximity, with natural spaces that allow you to escape close to home. For cyclists, we will create pleasant roads to cross with less confrontation with car traffic. ”
Suzanne Brolly, Deputy Mayor in charge of the resilient city.
Of a predominant economic vocation
In the plans of the previous mandate, Archipel 2 was to keep a predominant economic vocation, with 70,000 m² of offices against 18,000 m² reserved for homes. A car park with 250 spaces must be built, as well as two residential programs of nearly 18,000 m² and a crèche of 500 m².
On 11.5 hectares of land, 3.5 hectares were dedicated to a park crossing the area to a lock house on the banks of the Aare, the river that borders the district. In total, the part devoted to the building represented 32% of the floor space, which already consisted of a break with the neighboring Archipelago, which was much more compact.
an increase in housing and green spaces
The new municipality intends to exacerbate this rupture by still the part designated for the tertiary sector. Thus, the Caisse d’Epargne has transformed its new head office project into housing that it will rent.
As for Crédit Mutuel, Suzanne Brolly underlines:
“The Crédit Mutuel project was very interesting, it was made of wood and was located at the level of the green belt, close to the banks. So we will take the opportunity to deartificialise the soil, and create a space of nature. ”
On the new Archipel 2 map, the Crédit Mutuel building has therefore disappeared, replaced by a green grid along the Marne-Rhine Canal (to the right of the SIG Arena on the map below).
The gourmet hall project in an 8,600 m² building, with market gardening on the roof, is described. But the silo parking project (lot C) is also called into question, says the assistant, who announces a new call for expressions of interest (AMI) by autumn 2021:
“We are completely transforming the development permit to increase the part reserved for open ground – which allows trees to be planted, and for nature – by enhancing the banks. In the end, more than 50% of the building will be dedicated to housing. This is why we have not touched the development permit for the social housing lots, intermediate rental and solidarity lease B, H and J (see below). The MAI concerns the entire central zone of lots G, F, I, D and C. ”
Suzanne Brolly announces the criteria that will be scrutinized by the City of Strasbourg in the face of the planners’ proposals: “The architectural projects will be exemplary in the choice of ecological materials, energy performance, revegetation of sites and reduction of their footprint. ”
“A place of life for Strasbourg and Schilik residents”
In his letter to Strasbourg City Hall, the opposition elected Pierre Jakubowicz also fears that the Archipel project will miss “its development to strengthen its international dimension and its European vocation. Suzanne Brolly retorts:
“It is not decent to put concrete in the name of Europe, to meet the economic challenges while omitting the social and ecological issues. The Wacken district will remain a site where we will welcome the European institutions (with the Osmosis project, intended to serve as offices for the European Parliament, editor’s note). But it must also be a place of life for Strasbourg and Schilikois. ”
The deputy in charge of local democracy Carole Zielinski is currently preparing a consultation with Strasbourg and Schilik residents on the future of the Archipel 2 site.