Spread over 150 hectares, just a fifteen-minute walk from the city centre, the Euralille project has been designed with the following aims since the 1980sIt was at this time that Pierre Mauroy, then Mayor of Lille, envisaged the construction of a station for the TGV Nord high-speed train line on the site vacated by the old fortifications that surrounded it. The surrounding area was to become a business district capable of revitalise an economy hit by deindustrialisation.
The star Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas was entrusted with the urban development plans for this "city within a city. The first phase, Euralille 1, began in the 1990s between Lille Flandres station and the one dedicated to high-speed trains at Lille Europe. The cradle of the project, it is now a crossroads of mobility where trains, trams, buses, the metro and bicycles meet. But it is also the heart of a district where offices rub shoulders with housing and schools, as well as a large shopping centre designed by Jean Nouvel, one of the first iconic buildings along with Christian de Portzamparc's Tour de Lille.
Then, from the 2000s onwards, phase 2 saw the extension of Euralille to the south with, among other things, the creation of the Bois habité, inaugurated in September 2012 and comprising 600 homes surrounded by vegetation. Today, the Euralille 3000 project which is currently underway. To strengthen the tertiary hub, the idea is to add new offices, as well as housing and shops. The aim is to turn Euralille into a truly lively district 24 hours a day. This new phase, launched in 2016, has seen several projects come to fruition this year.
The Euralille 3000 project is underway. The aim is to turn it into a lively 24-hour district, with offices, housing and shops.
Among them, the Swam - a sort of urban island with a panoramic restaurant, a hotel, a bar and a restaurant. Mama Sheltershops with green roofIt also includes the Ekla Business building and the public spaces of Euraflandres, a project undertaken entirely by the city, which includes redoing the pavement in blue granite to give the district a uniform appearance. Another large-scale project is ShAKE, a tertiary ecosystem encompassing coworking, a crèche, shops, as well as the head office of the Caisse d'Épargne Hauts de France, a restaurant and a roof garden, all due to open in 2021.
"Now that work on the Euralille 3000 phase has begun, we are already concerned to know how to regenerate the original business districtthe 1990s. Urban issues are constantly evolving, and at the moment, the main question is how to live in a business district."explains Sébastien Mercier, Head of Development and Marketing at SPL Euralille.
Mobility and centrality
Economically, Euralille acts as a support for the Lille European Metropolis. "One of Euralille's major assets is its mobility and centrality, which means that it is easy to find takers for development projects."says Sébastien Mercier. What's more, having been built on a greenfield site, there are still a few "hollow spaces in Euralille, areas that have yet to be exploited. Hence the importance of projects such as Swam and ShAKE, which are attractive places to live, work and play.
Although the district is due to be completed in around fifteen years' time, by 2035 Euralille's vocation will be to make continuous progress. "Once these "hollow spaces" have been filled, we will intervene again. Society is constantly changingconcludes the Euralille development manager. It constantly offers new ways of working. Office buildings will constantly need to be renovated."One of the latest projects to be completed in this area, which also boasts a number of green spaces such as Parc Matisse and Jardin des géants, is to cover the A1 motorway. Completion is expected in around ten years' time.
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