The Vendée company specializing in timber structural work and the exterior envelope invested for 11 months in the construction and renovation of 20 bio-sourced housing units using a participatory approach. On the program: framework, cladding, joinery ... and for the first time wooden frame walls insulated with straw.
"Free fields", a residence in keeping with the times
Le Clos Toreau, a district located south of Nantes, has a new set of bio-based housing: “Les Champs Libres”. Respectively project owner and project manager, the work was directed by Atlantique Habitations and Tica architects & town planners. Delivery was made in June 2021.
On the ground floor and ground floor, and with a total floor area of 1 m², the project offers different types of housing. It thus has thirteen affordable home ownership PSLA (Social Loan Rental-Accession) housing: one T1.482, two T2bis, six T2, three T3 and one T4. The real estate complex also has six social rental housing units ranging from T5 to T2 and an already existing house, renovated during the works, which will be put up for sale afterwards.
while preserving the site and its plant species. In this logic of preserving the environment, all of the housing units are fitted with photovoltaic panels on the roofs and are made of bio-based materials. The houses are thus insulated with straw and largely made of wood, using the know-how of LCA Construction Bois.
LCA, the wood asset for a bio-based project
LCA Construction Bois, specialist in structural timber construction, intervened for the first time in the “Les Champs Libres” project in the summer of 2020 after winning a public tender. In June 2021, 11 months later, the company completed all the woodworking achievements of the site: the framework, the wooden framework, the cladding, the exterior joinery but also the straw insulation of the houses thanks to a raw material supplied by Profibres, a company specializing in straw bale insulation.
“We obtained the pro-straw training in March 2019. On the program, 5 days of theoretical and practical learning with a diploma. It is thanks to this training that we were able to design and carry out this first MOB project with straw insulation. " specifies Edouard Bonnin, general and commercial director of LCA Construction Bois.
For LCA Construction Bois, the "Les Champs Libres" project will have required 600 hours of work in the design office, 900 hours of prefabrication in the workshops and 3.500 hours of implementation. In all, the company will have used:
- 40 m³ of pine / spruce
- 950 m² of douglas wood cladding
- 800 m² of MOB in Douglas fir with straw insulation
- 106 wood / aluminum exterior joinery
The inhabitants at the heart of the construction process
Les Champs Libres is intended to be a participatory project. Long before the first pickaxes, the future inhabitants participated in the development of their next place of life through a series of workshops, from February 2017 with the firm Wigwam and Tica architects & town planners. These moments of discussion allowed the owners to meet and make joint decisions about their new home. Sketched by the Tica architectural firm, the initial project may have changed slightly depending on each individual's needs and expectations.