The second edition of the report “Grand Paris & commercial real estate: future trends”, published by JLL will focus on a new project about to be launched shortly by EPADESA: the revival of the Les Groues district in Nanterre. The report considers what the future will hold for La Défense by 2030.
The boundary of La Défense, Europe’s leading business district, has always been defined as the main esplanade (Le Parvis) and its surrounding buildings. While initial plans for La Défense were for 800,000 m² of office space, almost 3.5 million m² has now been developed.
As a strategic business centre for the Greater Paris region, infrastructure development including roads, motorways and railways (A14, RER A, Métro 1 and Tramway T2) has always benefited La Défense but these have had a negative impact on the local environment by damaging and splitting up neighbouring towns while La Défense enjoyed the majority of the economic benefits.
However, La Défense is now the victim if its own success as the daily influx of tens of thousands of commuters and visitors has led to a rising level of transport congestion. Launched in 1958, the office stock in La Défense has aged to the point of no longer reflecting corporate demand. This has led to criticism of the business district, even though the majority of workers in the area state that they are satisfied.
For a number of years, public authorities have been implementing an intervention strategy for La Défense and the surrounding area. This project aims to rebuild links between the business district and the city, repair the impact of infrastructure development as well as widen the boundary beyond the business district alone. This is the Project of National Interest (OIN), Seine Arche.
Many projects and improvements have already been carried out as part of the OIN and others. For example, there have been considerable improvements in towns such as Nanterre due to work carried out on infrastructure and urban regeneration schemes. The transport elements of the Grand Paris project give additional impetus to the Seine Arche OIN and have enabled the redevelopment of a previously overlooked strategic site: Les Groues.
Source: JLL
