In Bordeaux, the new Brazza district lives, works and plays… in part

Edgar moved a few weeks ago to rue des Queyries in the Harmony residence delivered in January 2024. In the Brazza district, this rue des Queyries is the parallel sister of the quai de Brazza and fronts on Garonne in this rectangle of 53 hectares that Bordeaux Métropole been developing for around ten years. And for about ten more years, surely. “I am well aware of living in an area that will still change a lot, make noise, but I think it is worth it,” smiles the computer scientist working in Chartons, on the other side of the river.

In his massive and slender residence, Edgar occupies one of the 142 housing units, from affordable access to social housing, from intermediate rental to young professionals. 13,000 square meters of floor space but also two levels of parking shared with the three other programs of the block at the heart of which an adapted company dedicated to recycling will soon be established. At Harmony too, artisanal premises inserted in a mix on all floors topped by a large green patio. The building permit dates from 2018, two years before the arrival of the environmentalist mayor, but the elected official was keen to salute this versatility at the end of his visit.

School group at the start of the school year

“We reoriented the development of this district, even if 80% of the building permits were issued,” affirmed Pierre Hurmic. By putting an end to “freedom urban planning”, by “reversing the relationship between the public planner and the developers. » Apart from the preservation of a ruderal wood (2.2 ha), few emblematic examples but “an increase in subsidized housing, work on public spaces avoiding any mineralization”, from the Andrée-Chedid public square to the strips of traffic.

And to praise the Bordeaux Frugal Building label, imposed on the 20% of the remaining building permits for this first phase of 33 hectares, the development of which will be completed within two years. This first tranche has featured an innovative mix since its launch in 2014, further enhanced by the new elected officials. It includes the UCPA Sport Station as a leisure attraction, a center dedicated to crafts, an unprecedented dimension in new neighborhoods at this height, a future major island under the leadership of the Cardinal group (in place of the Soferti wasteland) with hotel-catering, student residence, social housing and even crafts. Or even, a school group of 18 classes (between Soferti/Cardinal and UCPA) which will open at the start of the 2024 school year, as well as a gymnasium a year later.

Resistors

The next episodes of the Brazza series may have to wait. Its writers are not on strike but the old actors in place do not want to leave the casting yet. Thirteen hectares in the heart of the district are awaiting a planned change but discussed by the land owners. Saint-Gobain, Descas, Frères Pascal and Peychavit are at different stages of negotiations with Bordeaux Métropole.

“Some are progressing well,” assures Pauline Deslous, head of the Brazza project. The declaration of public utility (DUP) allowing a possible expropriation was nevertheless drafted two years ago. It should be effective in the coming weeks on a total of 17 hectares of Brazza, also including the plot east of the railway line, on the rue des Vivants side. These discussions and procedures should postpone the latest programs for a few years, the heart of the district in particular, to the residential dimension (several hundred houses) with still capable volumes (1), another original specificity of Brazza.

And the Brazzaligne?

Along this rue des Queyries, where Edgar has a great view of the rest of the district, another Arlesienne in the shape of a sea serpent: the Brazzaligne, a green flow on a vestige of a railway beam promising the break between old Bastide and new. One train runs there per week, supplying the Grands Moulins of neighboring Paris. “Discussions are still ongoing to combine all the issues,” says Franck Descoubes, director of planning at Bordeaux Métropole. And to announce “preparatory work in 2025”.

(1) Premises or housing delivered “bare” at much more affordable prices, which the owner furnishes as he wishes.

In numbers

53. In hectares, the surface area of ​​the new district developed by Bordeaux Métropole.
60%. The share of programs delivered or in the process of being delivered.
4,800. The number of housing units in the long term.
55%. The share of assisted housing.
35000. In square meters, the surface area of ​​craft premises.
17. The hectares which will be the subject of a declaration of public utility, or even expropriation.
350,000. The number of users that the new UCPA complex would have in almost one year of activity.