Interview with Franck Boucher, Director of Attractiveness at Paris La Défense

Is the new face of La Défense key to the future of the district?

Franck Boucher - This is necessary if we want to remain competitive. We put a lot of effort into creating living spacesThis is a point on which we were lagging behind. We are also bringing in new forms of hospitality as Citizen M and soon Mama Shelter. We will also have a Radisson Collection, a strong symbol, as there was no luxury hotel before. To enhance our contemporary art heritage, we are organising exhibitions and curating one of our temporary works each year, most recently a gigantic bench that has been added to the 72 works by artists such as Calder, Miro, Takis and Moretti. But above all, the inauguration of the Arena Paris La Défense (Editor's note: at the end of 2017) provided a real lever to show the world that we are no longer just a business district. The world's biggest stars from a wide range of backgrounds come to sing here, whether it's the Rolling Stones, Paul Mac Cartney and soon Céline Dion, Rammstein on the hard rock side or Kassav, for the festive celebration of the group's 40th anniversary. Everyone who comes to the concert sees the transformation of the district and will talk about La Défense in a totally different way afterwards.

How are you creating the right conditions for businesses to innovate?

F.B. - In almost all high-rise buildings, you have floors where companies work with start-up. The economy requires it, and they need to be attentive to innovation, otherwise they will die. Faced with this challenge of modernisation, we need to find ways of attracting and accommodating these new businesses, in particular coworking spaces. Similarly, as part of its expansion, La Défense is moving into the Groues district, where we will be offering affordable property options for these new companies. We have our own own accelerator S'lab, which is home to a facial recognition specialist with whom we will be working. We have also entered into a partnership with Workwell, a platform of services to facilitate quality of life in the workplace. We have to find solutions all the time.