Sustainable infrastructure for the employment

The right project in the right place

Watch the videos above to see different perspectives about the economic, social and sustainable impacts of industrial real estate in urban areas:

Optimising sites to consume less land

In a context of land scarcity and zero land artificialization (ZAN), developing new economic activities in densely populated areas may seem impossible.

To meet the need for jobs in city centres while limiting urban expansion, Patrice Leclerc, Mayor of Gennevilliers, calls on real estate professionals to lead a "cultural revolution" to densify and build vertically for economic and productive purposes, as demonstrated by the Green Dock project at the Port of Gennevilliers.

Regarding the Goodman project in Noisy-Le-Sec, "we will move from a completely man-made site to 30% natural ground and biotope, which is significant,“ commented Olivier Sarrabeyrouse, Mayor of the municipality.

Truly recycling the city

To develop new economic activities in dense urban areas, real estate companies often give a second life to brownfields and obsolete sites: this is urban recycling.

At the AMIF trade show, Philippe Arfi, Managing Director of Goodman France, discussed circular deconstruction, a demolition method that allows for the recovery of over 99% of a building’s materials instead of sending them to landfill: Doors, windows, plumbing fixtures, cables, and even plants are reused almost as-is in other projects.

This approach reduces waste, conserves resources, and significantly improves the carbon footprint of operations.

Choosing proximity and diversity

The attractiveness of a municipality also relies on the balance between housing and economic activities.

This is a social challenge, as emphasized by Patrice Leclerc, Mayor of Gennevilliers, whose municipality sets an example by being evenly divided between housing, productive activities, and logistics: "We are the city in the Greater Paris Metropolis with the highest proportion of residents—more than 30%—working locally."

This balance is "essential for the ecological transition," according to Olivier Sarrabeyrouse, Mayor of Noisy-le-Sec. Reducing the distance between workplace and home means reducing transport-related pollution and promoting sustainable mobility

Building adaptability

To keep employment in city centres, today’s properties must be able to adapt to future uses.

Building adaptability allows:

• avoiding premature obsolescence, which could turn a building constructed today into a brownfield site tomorrow;
• facilitating the transformation of buildings while minimizing costs, disruptions, and emissions associated with construction work.

Adaptability is made possible through the technical specifications of the buildings and especially through the dialogue between elected officials and real estate project developers.

It was together (with Goodman) that we considered the project’s reversibility, to plan for the long term,” commented Olivier Sarrabeyrouse, Mayor of Noisy-le-Sec.

Dialogs between elected officials, residents, businesses, and project developers

A cornerstone of the ambition "the right project in the right place," dialogue with all stakeholders enables a comprehensive understanding of each party's issues, expectations, and requirements.

This "co-design" approach is central to the projects in Noisy-le-Sec and Gennevilliers presented at the AMIF trade show in Paris on May 28th.

Want to find out more? Watch the whole discussion below: