Restructuring the Netter-Debergue and Bizot sites

Prior to 2017, the Netter-Debergue site was home to US Métro, a multi-sports club reserved for RATP staff. The dilapidated condition of the premises prompted RATP to devise a project that would enrich the urban fabric, by offering its real estate at the service of the city and its inhabitants. Half of the site will be dedicated to new constructions, while the other half will serve as the extension to the Debergue Rendez-Vous garden. In this new space, a pedestrian walkway will link Cité Debergue to avenue du Docteur Arnold Netter. Opened up and extended, the garden will provide the neighbourhood with a breath of fresh air.

The future buildings will include 91 rental housing units, divided evenly between social housing units (affordable for approximately 70% of the Paris population), and intermediate housing (with rents lower than private housing by 15-20%). Close to a third of the units will be reserved for RATP staff, who will therefore be able to live close to their workplace. A 95-vacancy childcare centre will develop local services for families in the neighbourhood. Currently, only a quarter of families’ childcare needs is being met.

While offering a continuation of the existing green areas, the City of Paris’s project to extend the Debergue-Rendez-Vous public garden by over 2,500m², led by the city’s division for green spaces and the environment, involves renewing its facilities and diversifying plant varieties.

The garden retains its identity while welcoming new uses and giving greenery the pride of place.

• Existing paths will be extended. The main path will be lined on both sides with trees of the same species, while the secondary path will wind through a densely wooded route not unlike a forest trail.
• Furnishings will be standardised. The three benches from the Pont Neuf bridge, which previously occupied the existing square, will make for comfortable seating in the newly created green theatre. Other benches with back rests from the Pont Neuf bridge will complete this unit's orchard terraces. These benches are currently stored at the City of Paris’s materials centre.
• The playground for young children will be expanded to include an area for board games, equipped with tables and chairs.
• Three areas will be created with herbaceous plants, shrubbery and trees. The open dry area, with ample exposure to sunlight, will alternate between rustic lawn, flower prairie and an orchard prairie dotted with fruit trees that park users will be allowed to pick. The cool area, partially in the shade, will be located at the edges of the square with the extension of the forest trail casting shade over the green theatre. The humid area, which harbours a biodiversity observatory that is not open to the public, will combine herbaceous species with trees in a small valley and a pit.

RATP also aims to offer more sports facilities in the neighbourhood. The facility at 37 avenue du Docteur Arnold Netter, which was first used for parking horse-drawn carriages, then for maintaining escalators and finally for storing office furniture, is a worksite today in view of its future function as a sports centre. The 1,980m2 building will retain its exposed wooden beams as a nod to its industrial past. The activities of US Métro, RATP’s sports association, will be grouped there with upgraded facilities. True to its approach of being a window to the city, RATP will also offer neighbourhood schools and local residents access to this gymnasium. Sports enthusiasts of all ages will be able to enjoy a dojo, boxing room and multi-purpose hall, as well as rooms for weightlifting, warming-up and weapons. Its opening is scheduled for spring 2023.

The images below show the Bizot engine reparation workshop in the 1930s and an artist’s rendering of what the future gymnasium will look like with the original exposed wooden beams intact.

RATP Group and the City of Paris have upheld their environmental ambitions in every phase of the project. Housing units will meet stringent environmental certifications (NF HABITAT HQE excellent level, EFFINERGIE +, compliance with the City of Paris’ climate plan) and as for heating and heated water, they will be connected to the CPCU urban heating network. Over 50% of the network’s production comes from local, renewable and recovered energy sources. Over 900m2 of green terraces are also expected to be installed, in addition to the 2,500m2 that the future public garden will cover. A structure relying on beams and columns has been chosen to offer greater flexibility in changing the layout of the construction.

Since mid-March 2022, an educational floral worksite has taken over a plot in the site allocated to the future extension of the Debergue-Rendez-Vous public garden. This project follows the spirit of the charter led by the City of Paris in 2019 to promote temporary occupation as a tool to serve the Paris region. The project has the support of the Veni Verdi association, which specialises in social local agriculture and Jeunesse Feu Vert, a social protection foundation that works with young adults who have difficulty finding employment. This project was implemented with the support of RATP Habitat, the City of Paris and the RATP Group Foundation. 

In practical terms, several young adults from the neighbourhood, under the guidance of educators, take part in developing a 350m² plot. For an 8-month period, the worksite is expected to undergo the following changes: preparation of the soil, upkeep of plants, picking of flowers and composition of bouquets for neighbourhood residents. The young adults who participate in this programme will therefore be able to learn about professions relating to flower growing and codes of conduct in a working environment. 

At the Netter-Debergue site, structural works are making steady progress, notably with the installation of the first prefabricated polished concrete façade panels. This manner of proceeding with the construction was chosen for two reasons: firstly, to enable an optimal architectural rendering, and secondly, to respond to RATP Group’s efforts to limit construction-related disturbances for residents (in particular noise and dust). Foundational works for the last building began in July 2022, and structural works will be completed in March 2023 for delivery in the last quarter of 2023. In addition, the removal of the crane in March 2023 will make it possible to begin extension works for the public garden under the project management of the City of Paris.  

At the Bizot site, roofing on the future gymnasium has been replaced. Structural works have been completed.
Finishing works will continue (electricity, plumbing, indoor insulation, and so forth). The following steps will consist of finalising the façade of the entrance to the gymnasium. The objective is to complete the new sports infrastructures by spring 2023.

Below is an artist’s impression of what the inner courtyard of the gymnasium will look like.

• 2019 - 2020: Preparatory works
• Early 2021: works began on the Bizot site
• February 2021: works began on the Netter-Debergue site
• April 2023: completion of the Bizot site
• Last quarter 2023: completion of the Netter-Debergue site

• RATP Habitat, the Group’s social housing subsidiary, offers a full and diverse range of housing in the Île-de-France region to meet the needs of regions and citizens. The Netter-Debergue site is the reflection of the subsidiary’s expertise in urban planning.
• RATP Real Estate, an RATP Group real estate company, promotes the real estate properties of its clients in the public and private sectors, as a way of contributing to sustainable regions.
• The City of Paris’s Division for green spaces and the environment leads the project to extend the Debergue-Rendez-Vous public garden. In the future, the city will also be responsible for managing the garden’s opening and closing hours.
• Appointed architect, Guillaume Relier/ R Architecture
• Appointed architect for the gymnasium, Think Tank architecture

Work site no.: +33 7 52 75 96 13
Hotline (emergencies in evenings and on weekends): +33 6 58 43 45 95
Email: [email protected]

For more information on the RATP Group real estate policy, click here.