REVIT Heritage Report.pdf

Torfaen County Borough Council
REVIT: A Review of the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Assets on Brownfield Sites
4.4 Nantes
Île de Nantes Project
4.4.1 Nantes, which forms part of the region of Pays de la Loire and the Loire-
Atlantique department, one of the most industrialised in France. The dominant
industries in the area included shipbuilding, metalworking, food industries, the
production of chemicals and sugar and tobacco importing.
4.4.2 The Île de Nantes project consists of the regeneration of 350 hectares of
Brownfield land on an island within the Loire. The Nantes Island, which
currently accommodates approximately 13,000 inhabitants and employment for
9,000 people, encompasses many hectares of land and public spaces which
are often inadequately used or derelict.
4.4.3 The Communauté Urbaine de Nantes together with the support of SAMOA
(Société d’Aménagement de la Métropole Ouest Atlantique), is promoting the
Île de Nantes project. The scheme commenced in 2001 with a partnership of
the State, the Area and the Department, the Port Authority and SNCF. The
first work started in October 2002.
4.4.4 The project aims to bring the area into the metropolitan district through
improving the quality of life, economic development, trade, collective transport,
social and cultural development and leisure pursuits. The project master-plan
includes integrated policies on culture, tourism, the industrial heritage as well
as the proposed architectural design standards. The design and materials of
all new housing developments along the banks of the Loire are being
controlled so that they harmonise with the historic setting.
4.4.5 The backbone of the plan is an axis of East-West public spaces which will be
arranged to connect the various districts of the island. In addition the relocation
of the present railway transport system on the island is an important element in
long term project. This will allow the regeneration of 30 hectares of land under
the control of RFF/SNCF after having moved associated activities. To link the
area to the town centre a pedestrian footbridge is under construction to the
island, over the Loire.
4.4.6 The regeneration project is an example of Cultural Planning which has rejected
traditional planning zones in favour of retaining the area’s diverse character.
The goal of the regeneration is to gradually establish a mixed-use development
for the area by transforming the many derelict industrial buildings and spaces
at the same time conserving and repairing historic industrial buildings for reuse
wherever possible; demolition is seen as a last resort. The industrial
features of the island are considered important and have been integrated into
the project to retain the diversity of the urban landscape.
4.4.7 Since the second half of the 19 th century, the island of Nantes has played an
essential role in the local economy by allowing the expansion of industries
which could not a location on the northern bank of the Loire.
4.4.8 The diverse area consists principally of:
• the old suburb around a historical axis of the North-South crossing of the
Loire;
• an industrial-harbour zone in the Western part (Prairie au Duc and Sainte-
Anne Island) with many derelict industrial areas which with date from the
mid-19 th century; and
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