Evolution Austerlitz, innovative and green offices in the heart of Paris

The A7-A8 complex, located between the train station and the Pitié Salpêtrière hospital, aims to create a new neighborhood to put the station at the heart of the city and improve mobility for users. With the approval of the architect of the buildings of France, the new complex will include shops and services, offices, a hotel, social and intermediate family housing, housing for students and young workers, associative and technical premises and 22,000 sq.m of green spaces. The "Evolution" office building will take its place in this lively neighborhood in the making.

Offices designed to meet the needs of tomorrow

The office campus represents half of the A7A8 real estate complex and meets a real need. Its location offers optimal accessibility by public transportation. This location allows employees to limit and optimize their travel (saving time and efficiency) and facilitates the use of soft and/or public transportation. Finally, it helps to fight against global warming by drastically limiting the use of cars (maximum 1 in 20 employees).

The offices will be occupied by the Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD, its subsidiaries and partners). It is a major player in Official Development Assistance that promotes and supports the Sustainable Development Goals since the Group is a major player in Cop 21. Part of the offices will also be occupied by the SNCF for station management purposes.

Demanding environmental performance

Extremely virtuous on the environmental level and certified HQE/BREEAM level “Excellent”, the campus will also be labeled Biosourcé (use of recycled, reused and biosourced materials such as wood in the facade and structure and hemp as insulation materials) and Biodiversity thanks to the gardens and vegetated terraces representing a total of 22,000 square meters of green space.

Thanks to the exceptional performance of this future campus and in particular the energy production of the photovoltaic farm installed on the roof (3,400 sq.m) for the Group’s own needs, AFD will consume six times less energy than in its current premises. The photovoltaic farm, which will be the largest private farm in Paris, combined with the virtuous design of the buildings, will make it possible to reduce the energy consumption of the office buildings by more than 60% compared to the regulations. Everything is planned in this highly innovative campus to facilitate collaborative work, comfort and health of employees. Meeting rooms can be set up at any point on the floors and in proportions twice as large as in the previous generation of buildings. Outdoor areas, loggias, balconies and connected terraces where agricultural crops will be grown will be accessible to employees to relax during their break or for formal or informal meetings. No phytosanitary products will be used and beehives, insect habitats and nesting boxes will be installed to promote biodiversity and avoid the proliferation of harmful or invasive species.

In addition, the configuration of the office floors has been designed to allow natural lighting and avoid the use of artificial lighting. Thus, 85% of the surfaces will be in first daylight and the rest of the surfaces will remain generously lit because all the floors will be through. The main staircases throughout the building will be naturally lit to encourage users to use them rather than the elevators.