In Nîmes, 125 “accessible” student housing units will be delivered before the start of the 2025 school year

La nouvelle résidence Spacio sera achevée avant la rentrée 2025. Midi Libre – Nathan Rousseau

Elus, architecte, constructeurs… réunis pour la conférence de presse. Nathan Rousseau – Midi Libre

A five-minute walk from the Nîmes Arena (opposite the train station) at 16 boulevard Sergent Triaire, this future student residence designed by two subsidiaries of Action Logement – ​​Promologis and Foncière de Transformation Immobilière – should be completed in the summer of 2025, before the start of the school year… Enough to address the shortage of student housing in the city.

Former Axa offices soon to be transformed into futuristic housing… ? It's coming soon. The transformation work on the building purchased by the Foncière de transformation immobilière (FTI) officially begins this Friday, October 4.

After the demolition of the Crous towers last April, these 125 future apartments* are a first response to the lack of student housing… In the space of ten years, the student population in Nîmes has grown from 5,000 to nearly 15,000 students, or more than 30% over the last decade (depending on the course, some continue their studies up to master's level).

Studio rents range from 260 euros to 520 euros/month

“A relevant project”, and “of rents oh how affordable"congratulated the first deputy mayor Julien Plantier at the start of the work. "It is much more comfortable to pursue your studies without the constraints of daily housing", he recalled with the cap of the university teacher.

Advantage : Access to housing is not subject to agency fees or application fees (only a one-month deposit is required). On housing consumption, for the benefit of the budget and comfort of young people, external thermal insulation should make it possible to reduce “20 to 25% of energy expenditure (from 150kwatt to 19kW/year)” , and therefore reduce the energy bill of students… Note that 6,900 m2 have been removed from asbestos, “essential for the health of students”. The spaces were designed by architect Jean-Paul Charrière, with particular care to optimize the living space of the accommodation and make it as pleasant as possible.

“Making students' lives more pleasant, more accessible”

At the launch of the project, Pascale Rey-Deschamps, assistant to the president of the agglomeration in charge of Housing, congratulated an ambitious and virtuous project, because it allows to”make students' lives more pleasant, more accessible”. The 8th floor is dedicated to relaxation: a gym, cafeteria, study rooms and coworking spaces available to residents.

These state-of-the-art housing units for young people (students and young workers) will be the new future of the building. "Not sure that the rooftop is only used to enjoy herbal teas", joked Philippe Wallaert, president of Promologis. In developing the project, the builder and its partners followed the  "design-build" method (architects and builders brought together to set up the site), their challenge: "let's depollute" the building. The company has thus promoted reuse (unused carpets, ceiling tiles, etc.) in order to optimize construction costs. Amount of transformation work: €11 million

Delivery scheduled for summer 2025 (10 months of work). The new homes will be available for rent from June 2025, “before the start of the school year,” assured the president of the Promologis group. As a final touch, street art is invited: once completed, a mural should bring a little color back to Boulevard Triaire.

* The offer: From studios to 3-room apartments, rents vary between 260 euros excluding charges for a 1-room apartment, to 800 euros for a 3-room apartment “we are between the Crous offer and the market price”. Bicycle storage, a car park (approx. 100 spaces). Of the 125 accommodations, 11 have been designed for people with reduced mobility.