On the Austerlitz station renovation project, which is due to be completed in 2027, around ten cranes are working. Workers in orange overalls come and go, despite the beating sun and the dust. “It’s a great project. We will have a green space with housing,” rejoices one of them. Nice project? This is not everyone’s opinion. Because the program supported by Paris City Hall via Semapa and the developers Kaufman & Broad and Altarea-Cogedim has aroused discontent from environmental associations and local residents, who have been seeking to derail it for several years.
A local Extinction Rebellion group handed over a giant concrete block last Tuesday to the director general of the French Development Agency (AFD), the main buyer, in whom it criticizes “the investment of a billion euros of public money” in a “climate-killing” project.
Because on the edge of Austerlitz station a new building will soon be erected, nearly 37 meters high and 300 meters long, which will house nearly 25,000 m2 of diverse and varied shops – the equivalent of five hypermarkets, according to its detractors – and 50,000 m2 of offices, which the AFD buys in full, for the tidy sum of 924 million euros.
“We would like more gardens and fewer walls”
“It’s gigantic!” », worries Annick, professor of applied arts, who passes in front of the brochure presenting the project. “We have lived here since January, but we had no information about it,” explains her husband Gilles, a former diplomat, who also discovered the thing. As they read, their faces break down. “It’s getting more and more concreted, we have the impression that there are only little bits left,” exclaims Annick.
“We would like more gardens and fewer walls,” explains Isis, a member of Extinction Rebellion, who this week lent a hand to the Collectif Gare Austerlitz which is leading the protest. For Olivier Le Marois, who leads the collective, the station renovation project will worsen air pollution, due to the travel induced by the new car park with more than 800 spaces in particular. It will also “create a significant heat island in the heart of Paris” and increase greenhouse gas emissions, because of all the promised concrete. 150,000 tonnes will be needed, but concrete represents 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
And environmental associations are not the only ones to say this. The very serious state real estate council, which gave its opinion in June 2021 regarding the AFD acquisition project, is no less sharp. “Despite the environmental qualities with which the operation seems to be endowed, the Agency is choosing a property to build, at the expense of existing properties. If we consider that the construction of a building represents 60% of the release of effect gases, the choice of a site to build raises questions”, indicates the body, for which this choice “illustrates the hiatus between the environmental posture of the Agency and the real estate solution chosen, of which frugality is not the main quality due to its obvious oversizing. The message is clear.
Complaint for embezzlement of public funds
In addition to the environmental problems raised by the project, the associations point to a price per square meter that is too high (at least 18,500 euros per square meter according to the price recorded at the time) and criticize the AFD for purchasing a building too large for its needs (between 10,000 and 20,000 m2 of excess surface area on the 50,000 m2 purchased, according to a Senate report, but only 10,000 m2 according to the buyer) which will push the AFD to transform itself into a lessor, which is not its “vocation”, notes the State Real Estate Council.
So many elements which pushed three associations, France Nature Environnement, SOS Paris and Incopruptibles, to file a complaint against X for embezzlement of public funds. The complaint was deemed admissible, according to our information. “It’s scandalous, it’s public money. The AFD is carrying out a real estate operation, which is very far from its statutes, and it is a concrete monster when there is no need for one, all because the head of the AFD is close to Macron… », thunders Yves Contassot, co-president of FNE.
On the AFD side, we are calling for the rationalization of the organization, while the group is today established on ten sites in Paris, representing 54,000 m2. “We are convinced that we will be more effective if we bring our colleagues together. And tomorrow we will only occupy 40,000 m2, or 20% less surface area, this will lower the group’s real estate costs,” explains Bertrand Walckenaer, the deputy general director of AFD, who has concluded since Covid more than 1,800 teleworking agreements. The additional 10,000 m2 must be used to attract international organizations “which have an activity consistent with AFD”.
Little chance that the project will move
As for environmental issues, and while the AFD prides itself on making the climate “a priority”, Bertrand Walckenaer responds that the project is “in accordance with the Paris City Hall climate plan” and “an improvement compared to the current premises “. It also highlights the photovoltaic farm which is to be installed there – “the largest in Paris on a private building” – and the installation of green terraces. “It’s greenwashing to say that it’s an environmental project. When we see the density of the building, it is not possible to say that it is a project favorable to the environment,” replies Fatoumata Koné, president of the Les Ecologistes group, who had a wish adopted in April 2021 by the Council of Paris asking to “review the entire project with regard to ecological and social requirements”.
Contacted by 20 minutes, the first deputy of the mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, had still not responded to our requests at the time of publication of this article. Questioned several times by the associations, he highlights the 20,000 m2 of green space that will be created. “False,” replies Olivier Le Marois. The major part [le square] existed before, was razed to make a rainwater reservoir and will be recreated in artificial mode. The rest are potted plants. »
According to Fatoumata Koné, despite the three wishes adopted by the Paris Council to move the project – including that of the Ecologists – there is little chance that it will evolve. “They tell us it would be too expensive to see him again. We continue to support local mobilizations but we cannot succeed. »
