The D&A agency, leader of a Franco-Luxembourg consortium bringing together 2001, Acqua Alta, Paul Wurth Geprolux, Lollier, EODD and ENECO, has been named the winner by the EPA Alzette-Belval to conduct the feasibility study for the cross-border project of the Slag heap of the Terres Rouges.
This mission opens a new decisive stage for the future of one of the largest industrial wastelands in Europe, with an area of 72 hectares. It marks the launch of a strategic reflection aimed at defining the conditions for the transformation of a territory, located between France and Luxembourg, and at laying the foundations for an ambitious development project.
A unique industrial site in Europe
The Terres Rouges slag heap is an exceptional site in terms of its history, scale and geographical location. The legacy of more than a century of steel industry that has shaped the identity of the Alzette-Belval basin, it now forms a unique landscape, both the memory of European industry and a strategic land reserve at the heart of a dynamic living area. In one piece but shared between two states, the site concentrates issues rarely brought together in the same territory: industrial conversion, ecological transition, urban development, adaptation to climate change, preservation of natural resources, creation of housing, economic development, mobility and institutional cooperation.
Through its cross-border dimension, the diversity of its environmental and land constraints as well as the multiplicity of actors concerned, it offers an exceptional field of experimentation for designing new approaches to territorial planning on a European scale.
The conversion of the Terres Rouges slag heap now requires the definition of the technical, environmental, economic, urban and institutional conditions that will allow for a coherent, sustainable and shared transformation of this strategic territory. The feasibility study will therefore have to establish an operational framework capable of reconciling development ambitions with the requirements of environmental preservation and resilience.
The objective is to make this industrial heritage a resource for building a new territorial model reconciling urban quality, ecological resilience and economic attractiveness, while being in line with the European objectives of limiting land artificialisation.
Finally, the success of this ambition depends on the implementation of appropriate cross-border governance. The mission will have to propose the modalities for articulating the French and Luxembourg administrative, legal and operational frameworks in order to carry out a shared project, which will promote economic development, quality of life and sustainable preservation of resources.
A Franco-Luxembourg team at the service of a shared transformation
As the consortium’s representative, D&A ensures the management of the study and guarantees the coherence of the deliverables. The team is structured in pairs associating French and Luxembourg partners in order to combine expertise in urban planning, architecture, landscape, environment, hydraulics, engineering, economics and territorial governance. This organisation makes it possible to integrate the regulatory frameworks of the two countries and to support project owners in their future arbitrations.
With a recognized experience in the transformation of industrial territories, the team will mobilize its know-how in the reconversion of wasteland, urban renewal, renaturation, soil management and adaptation to climate change in order to build an operational vision of the future of the site. Particular attention will be paid to the issues of depollution, water management, biodiversity, land sobriety and environmental resilience, which will constitute the foundations of the project.
The study will take place in five successive phases: diagnosis, development of scenarios, operational translation, economic evaluation, and then definition of implementation and governance modalities. The conclusions will be submitted within twelve months.
„The uniqueness of the Terres Rouges slag heap is as much due to its industrial heritage as to its place between two administrative and regulatory frameworks. Designing a common working method and proposing shared governance is a particularly stimulating challenge. This mission is fully in line with the expertise that D&A has been developing for more than thirty years in the conversion of large industrial sites,“ concludes Magali Volkwein, President of D&A – Devillers & Associés.
The group
2001 (Luxembourg, architecture and urban planning) – Acqua Alta (France, land governance) – Paul Wurth Geprolux (Luxembourg, development and economic assessments) – Lollier Ingénierie (VRD, 30 employees, 4 agencies) – EODD (France, environment and polluted sites and soils) – ENECO (Luxembourg, geotechnics and polluted sites and soils).
