Two wooden buildings housing 220 housing units will be built in La Défense, the establishment managing the business district to the west of Paris, which wants to open up more to the outside world, announced in a press release on Friday.
The two buildings of 45 and 39 meters, connected by a base which will house shops and services, should open their doors in 2027 on the edge of La Défense, on a site called Segoffin, in the town of Courbevoie.
They will house 220 co-living accommodations, a form of shared accommodation with services popular among real estate investors, which mainly targets young professionals or students who can afford it.
The towers will be built by a subsidiary of the developer Altarea and the GA Smart Building group, the first winners of a call for mixed and low-carbon urban projects aimed at rehabilitating five sites on the edge of La Défense.
The infrastructure and base of the two buildings will be made of ultra-low carbon concrete, depending on the establishment, with everything else being made of wood.
Unlike concrete, the manufacture of which can be very emitting greenhouse gases, wood helps reduce the carbon footprint of construction and is therefore encouraged by the ambitious French environmental regulations on new buildings (RE2020).
The Paris La Défense establishment wants to transform the largest business district in Europe, by no longer confining it to offices alone.
It intends to create more shops and services at the foot and at the top of the towers, develop housing or create spaces for its increasingly numerous student population.
On Friday, elected officials and local officials inaugurated the new La Défense square, facing the Grande Arche, after renovation work which notably consisted of installing trees and changing the ground covering.