Halle Sulzer: Deconstruction scheduled to begin “summer 2023”.

This is how Sulzer Hall lives its last hours. The old building, 300 meters long, 30 meters wide and 30 meters high, was dedicated to the assembly of pumps and boat engines. Today, the abandoned industrial wasteland is on the verge of giving itself a second life within the framework of the development of the zone of coordinated development (ZAC) launched in 2006 by the Mantes-University where it is located. Plans to convert Sulzer Hall into a shopping center or music venue were proposed, but as La Gazette reported in December 2020, these were abandoned. The public body for the development of the Mantois Seine Aval (Epamsa), as the owner of the areas related to the development of the ZAC Mantes-Université, announced during a press conference on December 7, 2020 that the Sulzer Hall will finally be available. it is divided into three different parts thanks to the creation of two lanes. This information was confirmed during a public meeting organized by Epamsa on December 15 in the council room of Manteville city hall.

Therefore, the eastern part of the Sulzer Hall will be a university center that will connect the University Institute of Technology (IUT), currently located in Mantes-la-Jolie, the Apprentice Training Center (CFA) Supii Mekavenir and the Yvelines Institute of Science and Technology. (ISTY). The central part will be dedicated to a garden, and the western part to a cultural object with regional influence. On December 7, 2020, Pierre Bédier, president of the LR Department and chairman of the board of directors of Epamsa, announced that this place should not be a concert hall in any case, but “a place focused on plastic and digital art. . Thinking about the exact future of this future cultural object is currently ongoing.

Regardless, the reorganization of the industrial wasteland will have significant consequences for the architecture of Sulzer Hall. As planned by Epamsa in December 2020, the side facades and roof of the building will disappear. “Our project is to demolish the hall [Sulzer]only to keep the metal structure,” announced Emilie Niepceron, development project manager for Epamsa, on December 15, 2022. The Mantois Seine Aval Public Development Authority also states that the metal structure will be reinforced in certain places, while also being repainted with “anti-corrosion paint”. [pour pouvoir] let it remain open.”

Work on Sulzer Hall should begin this year. “Our plan for 2023 is several months of site preparation, cleaning, [pose] scaffolding,” says Emilie Niepceron. It is from the summer of 2023 that we will be able to visually see the first deconstruction works. »

The project planned for Sulzer Hall is not the only project being implemented as part of Mantes-University’s agreed development zone development. A park designed for residents will also see the light of day in the extension of the axis of the pool, and reflections to encourage gentle mobility in the ZAC area are also underway. A bus station will also be located there, but its exact location has not yet been determined. “Today we have four scenarios where the bus station is as close as possible to the railway lines and the passenger building, thus leaving the entire district between the traffic of the future school, the big hall and the water centre. – calmed down. There are four scenarios. They all have their pros and cons, but of course we’ll push it […] the bus station is as functional as possible […] and that the school is in the best possible condition,” explains the head of the development project for Epamsa.

The future school in question will also be inter-municipal. During the town hall held on December 13, Sami Damergy (SE), councilor of Mantevillois and second vice-president of Epamsa, recalled that this decision results in particular that the ZAC Mantes Université has a total area of ​​about “35”. hectare”, straddles both Mantes-la-Ville and Buchelay. “Both Mantes-la-Ville and Buchelay have tensions in terms of classroom activities, so it was interesting to approach Buchelay to create an inter-municipal school,” said Emilie. The subject of the future school complex comes up more and more, as Niepceron says in the long-term, “a little less than 3,000 apartments will be built at ZAC Mantes-Université.” Some have already been delivered.

However, the question of exactly where the future institution will be located remains unanswered. As La Gazette noted in December 2020, several lands were actually being explored. “The choice of plot depends on Epamsa. It is in the area of ​​Mantes-la-Ville between the area of ​​the great hall and the railway line. We have not yet made a final decision on the number of classes, the plot will be determined then, “said Sami Damergy on December 13, 2022, after a question on this topic by the member of the opposition municipal council and former mayor Kiril Naut. (RN).

“We’re starting a programming review in 2023 to ensure the school is the right size and time frame. We no longer build schools today as we built them yesterday, “adds Emilie Niepceron at the public meeting on December 15. Currently, according to Epams, “18 classes” could nevertheless see the light of day in this future intermunicipal school group. However, this , ZAC will not be the only building to be built at Mantes-University.

“We have two schools involved in this operation. we [en construit] In Mantes-la-Ville and we do in Buchelay”, the development project manager for the Public Development Agency of Mantois Seine Aval elaborated, stating that the school group in the Buchelois area can be “between 12 and 15 classes”. As for the return of students to these institutions, it would be planned “by 2024 at the earliest”.

The needs in terms of school capacity in these two cities are not the only needs that Epamsa wants to address with the development of ZAC Mantes-Université. An idea is also being implemented to increase the facilities of hotels in Mantois. Thus, a three-star hotel could see the light of day in the Mantes-University area. “This is a deficiency throughout Mantois,” explains Emilie Niepceron. We see this clearly today, when professionals want to come to the area, they can’t find anything to stay. This is a real demand from elected officials as well as incoming workers [dans] surrounding businesses […] for several days […]. Therefore, it suited us to have a hotel as close as possible within the ZAC Mantes-Université. [future] Eole station. Currently, neither the date of handover of the hotel nor the name of a possible hotel chain is known.

As the idea of ​​developing an agreed development zone has been around for a number of years now, Epamsa is also using the public meeting to confirm that it should “relaunch a major public consultation on the operation”. It will provide detailed information about various projects and their respective improvements after various ongoing studies. It will start in 2023, “certainly from September,” and will likely last “a year, a year and a half.”