When the Breguet building was erected in 1974, the Saclay plateau was still, for the most part, made up of fields. The area has since seen a lot of construction and even concrete, environmental advocates say. Closed since the end of November 2023, the site will be completely renovated by CentraleSupélec, owner of the premises. A symbolic project since this building is one of the very first around which the Moulon campus in Gif-sur-Yvette was built, part of the “pole of excellence for French research”. “It will be a totem building, the showcase of Paris-Saclay University,” underlines Romain Soubeyran, director of the CentraleSupélec engineering school.
The presidency of this establishment bringing together universities, major schools and research organizations (of which CentraleSupélec is one of the components) will in fact be housed in this restored 36,000 m2 site from the start of the 2026 school year. This is for the moment the planned date of delivery of the site, estimated at 137 million euros, including 45 million obtained via a low-rate loan for twenty-five years from the European Investment Bank (EIB). “We are proud to support this symbolic operation,” says Grégoire Chauvière Le Drian, EIB representative in France. This corresponds to our fundamentals: innovation and higher education, education. We are delighted to contribute to your influence. »
8,000 m2 for research, 7,000 m2 for businesses…
Completely evacuated since the end of November 2023, the site is already under construction, particularly for asbestos removal. The various services, laboratories and teaching areas located there were distributed to other CentraleSupélec sites on the Gif campus or elsewhere. The rehabilitation is designed by architects Atelier Kempe Thill and Patriarche.
“When the Breguet building came out of the ground, it was in the middle of the fields,” recall André Kempe and Thomas Perelli, architects. The campus was then built around it. Now the city is there. We therefore have to renovate a site in the middle of the city, designed fifty years ago and therefore more adapted to environmental needs and requirements. »
Of the 36,000 m2 surface area, 8,000 m2 will be dedicated to research for the staff of the electrical and electronic engineering laboratory in Paris and the signals and systems (L2S) and Sondra laboratories (Franco-Singaporean electromagnetism and radar research laboratory) ; 7,000 m2 will accommodate start-ups and companies to promote applied research and accelerate the entrepreneurial projects of students and graduates. Without forgetting spaces for teaching and the presidency of the Paris-Saclay University, which will be located in this historic building, named after an 18th century French watchmaker and physicist.
