A pivotal year for Euratlantique. Twelve years after the creation of the EPA (public development establishment) in this immense sector of 738 hectares around the station and up to the right bank of Bordeaux, Euratlantique will see in 2022 “the bulk of the first wave of residents arrive,” announces Alexandre Villatte, Deputy Director General of Operations, even if the territory already welcomes a few residents.
Ultimately, that is to say in ten years, the operation should accommodate 50,000 inhabitants and 30,000 jobs. “It’s a lot and at the same time modest when you know that the department of Gironde gains 20,000 inhabitants per year, including 10,000 for the Bordeaux metropolis”, analyzes the new president of the EPA, the mayor of Bègles Clément Rossignol-Puech. Several places or emblematic works will be delivered soon to accompany the arrival of the inhabitants. 20 minutes makes you discover five of them.
Place d’Armagnac
“Euratlantique is made up of 20 to 25 districts, including seven just in the ZAC Saint-Jean around the station,” recalls Alexandre Villatte. “Six of them are connected by the central square of Armagnac which is in the process of being built, and the first part of which will be delivered before the autumn. On the ground floor of the buildings of this square, we will install twenty to thirty local shops. »
The garden of the Ars
Located on the banks of the Garonne near the future Simone-Veil bridge which should be delivered in 2024, the Jardin de l’Ars “will become the new centrality of the Ars district, and a metropolitan garden since it will be the largest park in the south of Bordeaux,” announces Valérie Lasek, Managing Director of EPA Euratlantique. A first part of the garden, approximately 4 ha, will be inaugurated this Saturday at noon. But the development of the garden inland to the Gattebourse hall and the Bois de Paillère will continue, to allow the creation of a future green corridor to Bègles.
“There is a major technical innovation in this garden, underlines Alexandre Villatte, since all the management of rainwater in the Ars district will be done in the open air. There will be no pipes in the whole neighborhood. And this rainwater will come to flow into the park. It is very rare to have this kind of approach at the level of an entire district, because it means that all the leveling is calibrated to the nearest centimeter so that the rainwater flows into this garden. »
The Gattebourse hall
It is a magnificent 19th century building, all in length, located in the middle of the garden of the Ars. It still hosts SNCF storage workshops, and a few staff. “The SNCF must regroup its teams in its premises in Amédée Sud to free up this hold” indicates the director of the EPA, who is impatiently waiting to be able to recover the building in order to work on its future development. “This monumental hall must become a key element of the Jardin de l’Ars,” she announces. Many projects are under study, particularly on the part of private investors, in connection with the city and the metropolis. »
Valérie Lasek confirms that “the track of a museum or a cultural place remains open”. “It would make sense to welcome an element of cultural attractiveness to this district. The surface of the hall represents 3,000 m2 on the ground, and almost 4,000 m2 of exploitable surface with the mezzanines.
The bridge of La Palombe
This new work of art, 200 meters long and 20 meters wide, will make it possible to cross the railway tracks south of the Saint-Jean station, and to connect the districts of Saint-Jean Belcier and Sacré-Coeur by the new district Amedee Saint-Germain. “We are going to open it to traffic on July 4, announces Valérie Lasek, which will make it possible to desaturate the sector of the station and for the metropolis to develop a bus offer. “An inaugural event will bring together the inhabitants of the neighborhoods from the evening of June 30, “with the choir of the Bordeaux Opera which will perform a sung stroll on the bridge”. The official inauguration will take place on July 1.
The former postal sorting hall
The imposing building is in the process of being cut up, only a part being preserved. “A hotel will take place above the postal sorting, there will be an Aquitanis social housing building with a climbing wall inside to provide a sports offer in the area, and we are in the process of review the programming for the third batch,” announces Alexandre Villatte.