RTE Office Rises in Lyon’s Girondins Quarter

A NEW regional office for the electricity distribution company RTE has completed in Lyon, France, as seen in this impressive time-lapse video.

Designed by local firm, AFAA Architecture, the 150,000 square foot building was constructed on land formerly occupied by offices of the French postal bank.

Above: The new regional offices of RTE in Lyon was developed by Poste Immo, the development arm of the French post (image courtesy of Poste Immo).

Demolition of the old building took place in 2015, before construction works commenced in 2016.

Above: The site was occupied by an old building used by the Postal Bank (image courtesy of Poste Immo).

Finished at the end of last year, the new offices take up about a half of the building plot - the remaining and will be redeveloped with a mixture of privately-owned and subsidised homes.

Above: The new RTE offices under construction (image courtesy of AFAA Architecture).

The building offers generous communal areas, both inside and out, a pedestrian connection to landscaped grounds and naturally lit circulation spaces, together with a 160 space basement car park.

Above: A number of roof terraces serve as communal spaces for RTE's employees. The offices have attained a high environmental standard, below (images courtesy of Poste Immo).

The USD $37 million project’s energy and environmental performance was was certified “excellent” by the French authorities.

Situated in the western part of Lyon’s inner city, the project is part of a 43 acre redevelopment of the “Girondins quarter”. The masterplan will see USD $174 million invested creating 2,900 new residential units, 706,000 square feet of new office space and a number of commercial units and public amenities.

Above: RTE's offices are part of large scale redevelopments in Lyon's inner city (image courtesy of Poste Immo). Below: Lyon's Confluences district is one of the largest urban redevelopments in Europe (image courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron).

Lyon is France’s third largest city and is currently undergoing significant redevelopment.

Plans to regenerate the “Confluences quarter”, some 370 acres of centrally located (formerly) industrial land on the confluence of the rivers Saone and Rhone, were first proposed as far back as 2003.