Par
Maxence Gorregues
Published on
Dec 22 2024 at 3:53 p.m.
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Anyone who hasn't been around in the last three years will be completely disoriented. Firstly because the wall which previously surrounded the Clemenceau hospital in Caen (Calvados), inaugurated in 1908, has disappeared. THE new district of Coteaux de l’abbaye is completely open to the city.
Then, because eight of the historic buildings of the former regional hospital, transferred to the CHU from 1974, were wiped off the map. Also and above all because new paths have been designed, and buildings rose from the ground in several places.
A link with… Guillaume
Welcome to the Coteaux de l'Abbaye district, located on seven hectares of land sold by the CHU in 2019, a consortium of five companies well-known locally, specializing in real estate development and promotion: Shema, Icade, Sotrim, Pozzo and Flaviae. In total, these are 600 homes that must be built by 2028. At the end of 2024, the first deliveries have taken place in the Alix and Agathe buildings, i.e. 90 and 26 apartments respectively. At the beginning of January 2025, eight houses from the Alix program will welcome their residents.
These two first names refer to the mother of Mathilde of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, and to their fifth daughter. “This idea of naming each building with a name evoking the family of the Duke of Normandy takes on its full meaning when we know that the Abbaye-aux-Dames park is located in the immediate vicinity of this new district,” recalls Julien Pozzo, general director of Pozzo Immobilier.
Commercial success
For the promoters, commercial success is there. Of the 400 homes delivered or currently under construction, only 35 remain for sale.
The good location, the good price for new property in the city center (around €4,300 per m2) and a good professional team who were able to offer very beautiful buildings have a lot to do with it.
So far, buyers are composed of 40% owners and 60% investors. Also, these are essentially assets, 70%, the remainder concerning retired people. On the other hand, developers have noticed: families of four or five people have not yet found what they are looking for in the first housing units marketed.
Part of the hospital's history preserved
If eight buildings of the old hospital were wiped off the map, eight others were preserved. This is the case, for example, of the chapel and a small manor for which studies have been launched to find the right destiny for them. The gardener's house has also been preserved.
“In the middle of the neighborhood, it has its place to accommodate services and activities, at the junction of several paths, in a park that promises to be very green », Announces Laurent Potier. For the needs of this colossal project, around a hundred trees have disappeared, but 230 will be planted. The famous landscaper Thierry Laverne is at the helm.
The new city over the old
“It’s a successful mix of rehabilitation and new, with a certain harmony,” rejoices the mayor of Caen Aristide Olivier. This impression is certainly made possible by the slopes on the roofs of the buildings, the variety of housing typologies and non-linear facades, many of which have balconies. » The numerous breathing spaces between the buildings must fuel the sensation of well-being sought when strolling through the neighborhood.
The development of the seven hectares, before the construction of the buildings, required an investment of around 15 million euros, subsidized to the tune of 1.5 million euros, as part of the national recovery plan entitled Land recycling of wastelands in Normandy. Because it was indeed a wasteland that was in question. In addition to the asbestos present on the site, it was also necessary to fill the cavities of the old quarries, on the eastern part of the site.
Several complexes are under construction or will start: Sybille, Eléonore, Résidence des Dames, Adelise… Or how the city is being rebuilt within the city.
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