He made the crowds dream but also crystallized many critics. The ambitious Heron Tree project, which was to see the light of day in 2027 on the site of the Extraordinary Garden facing the Loire, has finally been abandoned, announced this Thursday Johanna Rolland (PS), mayor of Nantes and president of Nantes metropolis. “The context of social and ecological emergency must guide all our decisions, she justifies. This choice is that of reason. »
This monumental vegetated metallic structure, 35 m high, was the third stage of the great project of the Machines of the island, after the elephant and the Carrousel of the marine worlds. It was to be populated with mechanical creatures currently featured in the Gallery of Machines. The public could have strolled from branch to branch.
The cost had gone up
Supported for a long time by the municipality of Nantes, the project was weakened by the increase in its estimated cost, which had gone from 35 million euros to 52.4 million euros, not to mention the latest increases in the price of raw materials. and energy, which would have increased the bill to… 80 million. The legal arrangement, without competition, was also particularly complex.
The project was criticized by both the Nantes right and elected environmentalists. The decisive vote for the financing of the project had been rejected several times by the Metropolitan Council of Nantes Métropole.
The abandonment of the Heron Tree now blurs the future of the Machines de l’île site, a tourist locomotive in Nantes, whose story was entirely focused on the perspective of the Tree. Its authors, François Delarozière and Pierre Oréfice, should speak on Friday.
More info to follow on 20 Minutes…/…