The renovation work in the administrative tower which began in spring 2023 is about to be completed. The number of employees will increase from 420 to 460.
We see nothing, we suspect nothing, yet things are happening inside the administrative tower! For 18 months, the 22 floors of the tower have been handed over one after the other to the workers who patiently undertook an in-depth renovation: the offices, the corridors, the toilets, the floors, the walls and the ceilings… “19 floors out of 22 have been redone, there are still the 1st, 3rd and 12th floors which served as drawer floors,” says Isabelle Pouget, director of the secretariat. general at the prefecture and in charge of site monitoring. Drawer floors, that is to say, floors where civil servants from different departments have retreated while their original floor is renovated. The new secretary general of the prefecture, Nicole Chabannier, is delighted “that we have managed to carry out this major project without any interruption of services to users”.
Giant VMC
Suffice it to say that the coordination of the 12 companies (10 of which are from Corrèze) selected for this project required flexibility and diplomacy on the ground. Walking through the already finished floors, it's white, it's clean, sober. “For the comfort of all the employees who work here, it’s really something else,” says Isabelle Pouget.The covering of the five elevators has been redone. Photo: Agnès Gaudin
Since 1974 and the commissioning of the administrative tower, several phases of renovation have been carried out on the building, but never on this scale. For example, the toilets had never been redone and if, today, we like vintage fashion, this is much less true for the toilets! The ventilation of the building was also “a big piece”: two air columns were pierced from bottom to top to facilitate air renewal, “a bit like a giant VMC” explains Nicole Chabannier.
The ARS and the OFB will join the tower
Currently, the work is therefore focused on three floors to be finished, on the five elevators (one of which will receive a new motor) and on the reception hall. On the left, upon entering, a large waiting room has been set up. On the left again, we will access the DGFIP service, in other words, taxes. Many offices have been renovated in recent months, such as those of the Departmental Military Delegation and Lieutenant-Colonel Yves Lasvigne. Photo: Agnès Gaudin
On the right, in the hall, you access the tower's company restaurant and the amphitheater. Reception desks will also be closer to the entrance doors. A redevelopment intended to streamline the journey for users.
We are in the final stretch of this vast project: the new hall should be completed at the end of November.
Tulle: what does the work planned in the administrative tower consist of for a budget of €8 million?
Inauguration January 31
“We are planning the inauguration of this site on January 31,” announces Isabelle Pouget.In the upstairs offices: sobriety, whiteness and cleanliness.?Photo: AG
Finally, it should be noted that following this work, the tower is able to accommodate more staff: “It is the redevelopment of the floors and offices that allows this,” assures Isabelle Pouget, “and we have thus created 44 positions of additional work”. Thus, soon the administrative tower will permanently house the services of the ARS (Regional Health Agency) and its 30 employees, as well as the French Biodiversity Office (OFB). Administrations which join the eight already present in the tower and which will no longer have to pay rent.
Ready for future connection to the heat network? During this work, work was carried out on the boiler of the administrative tower. And this is not a detail, it is a question of anticipating the deployment of the city's heating network and the connection of the tower to this network. “With the energy renovation work that has been carried out in recent years, this connection will make it possible to further reduce the heating costs of the tower very substantially” says Nicole Chabannier.
Arnaud Besnard
