Nice Airport Promenade is an elegant real estate complex, ideally located at the entrance to Nice, the flagship project of the city's new business district. It is also a technically and environmentally demanding project. Designed by American architectural practice Arquitectonica, the three buildings of the Nice Airport Promenade will house offices, apartments, ground floor shops and a 4-star hotel. The contract was awarded to BESIX by Aéroports Côte d'Azur, AG Real Estate and CityGate. BESIX began construction in January 2019.
The three buildings, from 6 to 8 floors, will have a total area of 25,000 m², to which will be added an 11,500 m² underground car park. The triangular shape of the complex was imposed by the surrounding buildings. This triangle appears again in the façade, made of 11,000 m² of alternating glass and aluminium.
The buildings will be certified to the HQE, BREEAM and Eco-Vallée environmental references. Beyond the buildings' performance per se, special attention has been paid to soil permeability and green spaces. These include a densely planted inner courtyard with local species that consume little water. The roofs, in turn, will be covered with greenery over an area of 2,000 m².
BESIX's Engineering department played a major role in developing high-quality variants that allowed to optimise the project while respecting the client's budget.
With regards to the works, BESIX is responsible for demolition, soil remediation and earthmoving, and then building the complex, from structural work through to the finishing. In so doing it needs to respect a particularly tight schedule and to adapt to logistical difficulties specific to the site.
Works have to take into account the specifics of the project location, which is bordered by a tramline and the Promenade des Anglais and located opposite Terminal 1 of the airport. This imposes constraints, including accessibility and the positioning of cranes.
The complex is the flagship project of the Grand Arénas, the new business district of Nice. It will offer the city a business centre of the first order.
The Grand Arénas is part of the Cote d'Azur Eco-Valley programme, aimed at stimulating the regional economy, as well as transport and housing patterns in the city. With a focus on development and urban planning projects, Eco-Vallée combines economic objectives and strict ecological requirements.