It is notably expected to directly help some SMEsIt is the despair of the Evanescence commented badly on an intervieweeThe most often attached to hospitals they lack visibilityThe European banking compartment is granted almost 125 billion already released in their favourFor the startup the approach is differentIssuers must also make a significant haircutWhile Citigroup still enjoys a Tier1 by 11Sitting on the dock Barbie has the blues4 of GDP this year would be more profoundBuilt in the centre of Dijon, surrounded by the palais des congrès, the auditorium, the Chamber of commerce and industry (CCI) and the General Council, forming as a haven of concrete, the Elithis Tower attracts the gaze by its original ovoid design architecture. At first glance, nothing does suggests that this 10-storey building is home to a unique experience in France positive energy. "It is first a project based on the three pillars of sustainable development, i.e. environmental, economic and social," said Thierry Bièvre, CEO Elithis engineering, owner and designer of the project.
Why is this experimental Tower out of land at this location If it is now a showcase for the company and, by implication, to the Burgundian capital, "the initial objective was not to demonstrate ostensible way our know-how." "We simply seek the means to express a discontent of the role of the engineer France, who is confined to the resolution of the problems and which it no longer seeks to create," said Thierry Bièvre. According to him, segmentation and segregation which exist in the construction trades are such as to prevent the realization of buildings really to high environmental quality (HQE).
A rather futuristic project
It is moderated this state of mind that Elithis team decided to take action in 2006. Mission: to demonstrate that a new tertiary building can combine the criteria of sustainable development in energy savings strictly for the same cost as a standard construction. Although first local operator in his specialty, the design of facilities of the building, this engineering technical fluids is little known of the elected representatives of the city when it is seeking to present this rather futuristic project. Local policies are a little shaken by the leaders of this SME who come asking "well land located in the heart of the city and not in an area of peripheral activity, to construct a building that will become, hope, a showcase of technologies and know-how but, especially, of behavioural change", emphasizes Thierry Bièvre.
After numerous exchanges and zigzags, which will be ultimately lasted for two months with the support of the Senator-Mayor of Dijon, the Socialist François Rebsamen, "we were shown a whole field of 690 square metres, without the certainty is we would allow to build this place already very densified", remembers Thierry Bièvre which had, nevertheless, click: "it will be here.", otherwise I'm going. "If it is narrow, this location had for him all the required benefits: the proximity of the city centre to facilitate the social life, an underground parking in a few tens of metres and a tramway project doubling the bus line that passes just in front of the building, in order to limit individual movements.
1,400 euros per square metre
To realize his project, he imagines as an object rather than a building, the Director General of Elithis contact a designer, Philippe Starck, designer, Jean-Michel Vilmotte architect, and an architect, Jean-Marie Charpentier. It is the latter, the scene of three days later, who will tell him: "this building, you will do so and it is for me", after having listened to the presentation of the project and observed fieldwork. "I sketch a small model on the spot where I asked as a diamond in the middle of large buildings that have a hearty impact across the city", says Jean-Marie Charpentier. "That to Dijon or elsewhere in the world, we are leaving as soon as we can make our environmental experience," adds the founding CEO of the Agency Arte Charpentier.
Three years later, Elithis won the first battle of his fight against the ideas of sustainable development. Inaugurated on 2 April, currently in finishing, this tower is indeed standing without having devoured a bloated budget. It cost 1.400 euros (excluding tax) per square metre, either the same price as a standard building that uses 220 kWh per square metre and per year. For do not exceed the ceiling set at EUR 7 million, the technology was not pushed to the extreme, but all conceivable technical tricks have been implemented. "This is also the revolution." "We would like that the policies agreed finally that energy savings are possible without large expenditure," said Thierry Bièvre.
Remains that the full-scale experiment will start. From March 31, date of delivery of the work, play the second act of the bet of Elithis. "Beyond the technology, it is examining how human behaviour will be able to join the environmental matrix of the building to try to make it more efficient," he said. Starting with 75 employees of this engineering, currently crammed into nearby offices of the station, will be able to take their ease in the last four stages of "their" tour, followed by the regional delegation of Ademe, which will occupy the fourth floor as early as may 1.
Otherwise said, it will be some 330 future users to take the last March toward the positive energy threshold because, for the time being, the energy meter indicates a theoretical consumption of 20 kWh per square metre and per year. "A positive energy building is not a thermal power plant, but it's going in the right direction," concludes Jean-Marie Charpentier.
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