Bordeaux-Euratlantique, from the business district to the zero-carbon city

The project has just been extended for ten years, until 2040, with an inflated budget of 150 million euros. It still aims to accommodate 50.000 inhabitants and 30.000 jobs on 738 hectares of railway and industrial wasteland spread across Bordeaux and its neighbors Bègles and Floirac, on both banks of the Garonne.

But the environmental and social requirements of the specifications have been raised: Valérie Lasek, general director of the Bordeaux-Euratlantique public development establishment (EPA), where the three municipalities, the State and other local authorities sit, speaks to build “a city on the trajectory of carbon neutrality”.

The environmentalist mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, mentions the "solarisation of new neighborhoods in addition to their connection to the heat network" or even a target for social rental housing increased by 35 to 40% to catch up with his city (19%). instead of the 25% required by the SRU law).

“It’s not 100% the city we dream of but it’s a big operation reoriented in a direction much more in line with the climate emergency,” greets the elected official, who still described the project, in June, as “pebble in his shoe”.

“Millionaire metropolis”

At the origin, with the socialist president of the intercommunality Vincent Feltesse, of this operation declared of national interest in 2009, the former mayor Alain Juppé had another vision.

“Its objective was to create business offices, of the higher tertiary sector, and to welcome residents, to include Bordeaux in the competition between European metropolises, with this idea of ​​a millionaire metropolis”, rewinds the environmentalist mayor of Bègles Clément Rossignol -Puech, president since last year of the EPA board of directors.

After his surprise election in June 2020, Pierre Hurmic occupied this position but without being able to profoundly influence the current projects, like that of the shopping street of the Garonne station, for which he was only able to obtain modifications, such as an increase in the place given to the social and solidarity economy.

“I was faced with a promoter with a contract which, in my opinion, had not been negotiated,” he regrets.

“Even if it is an EPA, with mayors, they cannot call into question operations and deals previously made, unless they pay enormous compensation,” explains Gilles Pinson, professor at Sciences Po Bordeaux, specialist in EPAs.

In another neighborhood, threatened by "excessive concreteization" according to the Amédée Sacré-Coeur residents' collective, Pierre Hurmic declared a moratorium and negotiated a park of just over one hectare that the city will finance. “We are not giving up, we want a real two-hectare park,” insists the collective, which has filed an appeal.

“Complex economic equation”

Consultation with residents, revegetation and de-waterproofing are also at the heart of the new roadmap.

“There was a strong request from the city of Bordeaux to examine the project through the prism of its political priorities,” underlines Valérie Lasek.

Former member of the Ministry of Ecology then of Cécile Duflot's cabinet for Housing, her appointment in 2021 was not insignificant, according to Gilles Pinson: "The general director is appointed by the council of ministers but this appointment is always obliged to take into account local political balances.

It must also ensure the economic balance of the project, threatened by the real estate crisis which is hitting developers hard. Valérie Lasek recognizes “a very brutal stop”. “We lost reservations for sales that were well underway,” she adds.

To continue moving forward, it may be necessary to "adjust a certain number of parameters, including the exit price of vacant housing", regulated and lower than the average for the metropolis of more than 800.000 inhabitants, where an average of 10.000 settle. new arrivals per year. “If all the sliders are at their maximum, the economic equation is complex,” she admits.

“We hope that the real estate crisis is only cyclical,” declares Clément Rossignol-Puech, who pleads for “public authorities to continue to play their role.”