A French global energy services company and a real estate developer have agreed to partner on an ambitious new project that will create what they describe to be as a new 'smart city of tomorrow' in Paris.
French-based enterprises ENGIE and NEXITY formally announced the financial and technological partnership in a joint-press press release. The companies have acquired a nine-hectare plot of industrial land near Paris - and will utilize their shared expertise in sustainability, energy transition and development to transform it into a model eco-district and futuristic and sustainable smart city.
The site at La Garenne-Colombes, in the Hauts-de-Seine division, will be home to a future ENGIE eco-campus developed in close collaboration with the municipality and the public representatives to meet the needs of future users, residents and employees.
In addition to this it has been further disclosed that the project will feature a mixed program of offices, housing, shops and a hotel, a new PSA branch, and community facilities including a large public park, school, crèche, and gymnasium.
Intended to be a showcase for the energy and environmental transition involved, the project is located within the scope of a redevelopment and sustainable development project of the municipality of La Garenne-Colombes, on a site acquired from the PSA group which will be made available in late 2018.
"This project will be the showcase of the ENGIE Group's strategy, part of an environmental approach contributing both to economic and social progress that is harmonious and sustainable," said Pierre Deheunynck, executive vice president and member of the executive committee, ENGIE.
"Located in a wooded urban site near Paris, this future eco-campus will illustrate the expertise of ENGIE and its teams in building the smart city of tomorrow."
By 2022-2023, Engie plans to complete a bespoke campus of more than 120,000 m² to meet the highest standards of "quality of life at work" where the Île-de-France teams will be brought together within a unifying place, "promoting cooperation, cross-disciplinary and openness".
"Our strength on [the] tertiary campus is to provide tailor-made answers to the needs and uses expressed, but also to articulate the ‘DNA' of ENGIE through its new premises," added Véronique Bédague, chairwoman and CEO of Nexity Immobilier d'Entreprise.
"I am proud that ENGIE will become a showcase of our corporate property know-how and that we are developing together a new area in La Garenne-Colombes.