“It’s the only project that has such ambition in France!” The new Brittany Tower unveiled

There was no shortage of superlatives during the presentation of what the 21st century version of the Brittany Tower will be. The Giboire Group, majority owner of the 144 meter high building which dominates the city center of Nantes, presented its rehabilitation project this Thursday. It has been four years since the building polluted by asbestos was emptied of its occupants while awaiting renovation.

“This is a long, complicated and risky project for our company.” Michel Giboire, president of the Giboire Group, recognizes that the adventure the family business has embarked on is a real challenge.

A few years ago, Giboire began buying offices in the Bretagne Tower from owners who did not see themselves emptying the premises and waiting patiently for the building is delivered renovated to take over their business. This is how, over the course of departures, the Giboire Group became the owner of 77% of the tower.

This office building has been empty for four years. Designed by the architect Claude Devorsine, it was inaugurated in 1976, “At the time of the release of the film The Infernal Tower”laughs Philippe Chiambaretta, founder of the PCA Stream agency which, with Magnum, are the two architectural firms which were selected for the rehabilitation project.

A building which, when it was designed, was intended, like the Montparnasse Tower in Paris or the Europe Tower in Mulhouse, to be an evocation of American skyscrapers. A time when, in France, we still found many virtues in asbestos.

The carcinogenic material is found everywhere on the thirty floors, from the floor to the ceiling including the window frames. Hence the decision, in 2019, to evacuate the premises.

Five years and a pandemic later, nothing has changed, but, we are assured, the work will be able to begin.

Asbestos removal is due to begin in mid-2025, at the end of which the companies will take possession of the premises to dismantle the tower. The people of Nantes will never see the tower exposed, because tarpaulins will protect the site.

The office building will make way for a tower of 200 housing units (approximately), from studios to five-room apartments, some apartments having a loggia.

The base of the tower will be redesigned. There will be a 4-star hotel, a restaurant, 1,500 m² of offices and coworking, shops and 1,000 m² where Nantes Métropole (co-owner of 17% of the tower) will install the Les Ecossolies association. (for the promotion of the social and solidarity economy).

You will also find “Kejadenn”, a cultural place managed by the Agence Culturelle Bretonne.

“Certainly, this friendly place will make the sound of the bagpipes resonate and spread the smell of buckwheat throughout the city. But above all it will say what Brittany is in the hearts of the people of Nantes”declares Florian Le Teuff, deputy delegate for Breton issues.

Le Nid, the bar which, on the top floor of the tower, provided a panoramic view, will have a successor. We will once again be able to climb to the top of the building for free.

“The people of Nantes will be able to go up and admire the sky of Nantes with a panoramic belvedere, announces Mayor Johanna Rolland, to have a drink, listen to a concert, watch an exhibition…”

We are promised, at the top of the tower, planted terraces which will allow rainwater to be collected for cleaning purposes or for use in sanitary facilities. In the same spirit, there is talk of nesting boxes on the base of the tower for beetles and birds.

An organic design

The project allows “to combine architectural innovation with ecological issues”specifies Johanna Rolland who was keen to salute the work of the architects of PCA Stream and Magnum.

An approach which will be expressed in different ways, whether on the choice of biosourced materials, the connection to the urban heat production network, the use of heat pumps or even innovative solutions such as the use of heat from shower water, dishwashing water from accommodation and the hotel.

Giboire promises us “an energy-efficient, comfortable and environmentally friendly building, intelligently exploiting the available natural resources of sun, wind, rain and plant cover.”

“The equivalent of 7,000 tonnes of carbon will be saved by keeping the structure of the tower, explains François Giboire, general director of the Giboire Group, which draws on his experience of the rehabilitation of the CPAM building in Vannes. “We are going to remove more than half of the car spaces to encourage gentle travel (250 bicycle spaces)”, he adds before concluding: “It’s the only project that has such ambition in France!”

As for the appearance of the Brittany Tower, it will change completely. Until now we had the black Gwenn ha du, the Breton flag, we will now have the white one.

The black and austere building that we know will in fact make way for a white tower with “a clear facade, made of recycled aluminum, the color will change depending on the orientation and the sun” says the architect Philippe Chiambaretta.

The base, open to the public with its shops, restaurant, cultural venue and a new staircase which will connect the lower part of the tower base to the upper part, will revitalize this part of the district.

“Many would have given up”declares Michel Giboire, faced with the ambition of this project.

“It will not be a project like any other, confirms Johanna Rolland. It is an emblematic building of the city.”

“The tower is in the center of the city. That forces us to have a virtuous project” concludes Benoît Garnier, architect at Magnum.

But the calendar still remains conditional. Like the cost of the project, estimated today at 135 million euros. If the asbestos removal work should end in 2026, delivery of the new version of the tower is announced for 2029… at best.

When it first started, the Bretagne Tower had a hard time filling up due to high rents. The Giboire group intends not to repeat this commercial failure after the rehabilitation. No doubt hoping that the real estate crisis will be a thing of the past in 2029.

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