Not remarkable enough to be protected, they still bear the brunt of developers’ appetites: in Paris, so-called suburban buildings, typical of outlying districts, must be better protected by the future local urban plan (PLU). In the Faubourg Saint-Martin, not far from the Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est, work on a modern complex of six levels is well advanced. The contrast is sharp with an elegant corset factory from 1860 that it adjoins. Above all, it replaced small two-storey buildings, built between the 18th and 19th centuries, with their typically Parisian zinc roofs…
The set was however supposed to be protected by the PLU through the “City of Paris protection” (PVP) from which it benefited. And the Old Paris Commission (CVP), responsible for advising the town hall on heritage protection, opposed the demolition of a building “characteristic of the small suburban habitat”. But in 2020, the town hall led by socialist Anne Hidalgo still granted the building permit. Even if the PVP “is not as restrictive as the protection of historic monuments”, this green light “is not normal”, comments the secretary general of the commission Simon Texier. “Heritage is not just private mansions and prestigious buildings”, protests Philippe Khayat, the general secretary of SOS Paris for whom “the small modest buildings which make up the identity and the charm of Paris” are destroyed. by “tens, if not hundreds”. “The developers are attacking the suburbs”, abounds Grégory Chaumet, the president of Paris Historique, another association for the preservation of heritage. “Every month, we see two or three minimum: either destruction or elevation” in the majority.
However, if the Commission “cannot fight against any demolition”, in particular because the buildings “are not of sufficient quality to be preserved”, “many are preserved” because its opinions are “generally followed”, underlines Simon Texier . And also because it renegotiates with the promoters, which allows “to influence the projects for a greater preservation of the existing”, adds the secretary.
With a growing sensitivity to heritage on the one hand, the promise to reach 40% of social or affordable housing by 2035 on the other, will the future PLU presented on June 5 in the Council of Paris allow better protection of suburbs? The executive led by Anne Hidalgo announces “an increase of more than 800 in the number of protected buildings”, bringing their number from around 5,800 to 6,700, and including in particular “residential buildings”, a typology “so far ignored or little present”. For Emile Meunier, negotiator for environmental allies who are always critical when it comes to densifying the urban fabric, the majority on the left “has found the right balance between thermal renovation and heritage protection”. “In streets less than 12 m wide, the height rules will be lower than the current ones, it’s written black on white”, indicates the elected EELV for whom this PLU “turns a dark page on Parisian town planning. conducted over the past decade. If it is not going to “ban construction in Paris”, the town hall intends to “better regulate the places where it is possible and desirable”, affirms the assistant for urban planning Emmanuel Grégoire who intends to “create areas of hollow teeth” to “have the air movements”. “How to believe you?” Asks the LR opposition, while the majority on the left “has validated 1,477 elevations of buildings” and that the future PLU “even provides for the possibility of raising them above the regulatory heights ?” For Grégory Chaumet, “the absolute priority given to thermal renovations” in the text “can be harmful to heritage” in that the insulation work will lead “to modifying the facades”. And “if the elevations are authorized, it is still double talk”, adds the president of Paris Historique who remains “suspicious”. For Simon Texier, “the balance to be found” consists of “leaving the door open to a few projects in the city. But on the corner plots, vigilance is increasingly strong.” Optimistic, the Secretary General of the Commission wants to believe that “A certain number of developments will make it possible to obtain an increasingly strong preservation of the built environment.”
