Rennes – Urban planning and architecture – Dimitri Iatosti le 11/18/2022
Île Ô Bois is the tallest wooden building in Rennes made up exclusively of houses. Indeed, in Brittany only the office buildings are taller, but this is explained by the difference in building standards. This Rennes real estate programme it is innovative and could be a model to follow. Project overview.
What are the features of this new program?
This new real estate program brings together a building with 72 collective homes and 39 individual homes. The apartments offered range from T2 to T5 and the houses are T4 or T5. In total, 119 housing units will be spread over 3 separate land blocks. Some houses are in social membership.
Set in the Beauregard district, Île Ô Bois is 6 stories high, which represents 25 meters in height. It is the first of its kind in Brittany, not to mention office buildings which do not present the same construction difficulties.
The works started in January 2022 and are expected to be completed in the autumn of 2023. The marketing of the first tranche started in September 2021. The investment to build Île Ô Bois was 15.8 million euros. A fairly high cost but which can be explained by the increase in the price of materials and inflation.
However, the prices per m² remain below the average property price in Rennes. Rennes has a price per m² of €5,826 for a new property. In this wooden building in Rennes, the apartments are at €4,640 per m². As for the individual houses in the program, they have a price of 4,330 €/m².
An eco-responsible wooden building in Rennes
Île Ô Bois has all the characteristics of RE2020 without being eligible for it. For the time being, this program is labeled Effinature (Biodiversity Certification) and NF Habitat HQE. As a reminder, RE2020 aims to reduce the carbon footprint of the construction sector. It has been designed with this in mind because materials of biological origin and renewable energy have been used.
The accommodations have been designed with a desire for quality of use. For example, 60% of collective housing benefits from a double or even triple orientation. Furthermore, each house has a private outdoor terrace.
The services provided have been designed for the comfort of the residents. In fact, the latter will be able to take advantage of a made-to-measure fitted kitchen and made-to-measure sinks in the bathrooms.
The wood used for the construction is CLT, cross laminated wood. It is used for the construction of the framework (beam, posts, floor). The facade will also be in XLAM. A metallic coating will cover the whole thing.
The advantages of wood
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has many advantages. First of all, it absorbs CO² and emits few volatile organic compounds (VOCs), i.e. chemicals that affect air quality. The CLT thus allows you to breathe cleaner air inside homes.
The most common types of wood used in the construction industry are spruce, pine and Douglas fir. To be compliant with low carbon emissions, they come from French forests labeled PEFC and FSC. Furthermore, the panels are cut in France. This responds to an ever-increasing demand from consumers for local and sustainable consumption.
Another benefit of wood is that it is a good insulator. Its efficiency is 15 times greater than that of concrete. The residents of this wooden building in Rennes they will be happy to reduce their energy bill and benefit from better thermal comfort.
“For Île Ô Bois, we used cross-laminated wood (CLT) which offers many advantages such as its flexibility, its lightness and its very aesthetic natural look. It also allows an incomparable execution speed in terms of assembly and construction, which reduces construction times. The panels are cut and pre-assembled directly at the manufacturer Belliard. It’s a dry, cleaner, less noisy place.”
Liard and Tanguy architecture firm
Focus on the Beauregard district, which houses this wooden building in Rennes
The Beauregard district in Rennes it is located on the edge of Saint-Grégoire. It was designed in the 90s. Its agricultural past is still present and now the sector is divided between nature and the city. It enjoys good accessibility as 2 metro stops are located in the area: JF Kennedy and PontChaillou.
Beauregard is a university district. Indeed, it houses the campus of the University of Rennes 2, in which we find the UFR of human and social sciences, the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health, university libraries and a digital center. Rennes business school is also in the area. This large student population is a good opportunity to invest in new real estate because rental demand is strong.
There are also large public institutions in the sector, such as the Departmental House for the Disabled (MDPH) and the departmental council of Ille-et-Vilaine. Residents of Rennes can cross the neighborhood to reach the FRAC de Bretagne (Regional Fund for Contemporary Art).
Another very important building is located not far from Île Ô Bois: the regional council of Brittany. These many infrastructures demonstrate that Beauregard is a neighborhood that fully participates in the dynamism and functioning of the city.
Beauregard’s commercial offer is considerable. Near Île Ô Bois, you can find the Grand Quartier shopping center, where big brands such as Decathlon and Cultura are found.
In terms of property prices in Beauregard, a new property is around €4,826/m2. The district has seen a price increase of more than 47% in 5 years. With all the resources it has, prices could continue to rise.
Other examples of wooden buildings in Rennes
Île Ô Bois is obviously not the only one wooden building in Rennes. One of the city’s most emblematic wooden towers is Horizons Bois, a real estate program located in the Saint-Hélier district, near the train station. With 11 floors, it is taller than Île Ô Bois.
Its peculiarity is to be mixed. Combine offices and living quarters. The offices will be distributed over 1,400 m2 on the first 3 floors. The lodgings will be accessible from the 4th floor. The proposed typologies will range from studio to T4. This wooden building in Rennes
it will be eco-responsible. In fact, materials of biological origin will be used, each apartment will have a heat pump and the offices will be equipped with a geothermal sensor.
With a view to changing the way of living, the Lamotte group has decided to build a wooden building that will become its headquarters: the Bois Lilas. It is an ambitious project because it will be the largest wooden program ever built in Brittany.
This program will be divided into 3 parts: a 7-storey building, a 4-storey central pavilion and a 4-storey south pavilion. Overall, it will consist of 6,900 m2 of offices and 600 m2 of shops and services. It is currently under construction in the Courrouze district, opposite the Saint-Jacques Gaieté metro stop, open since September 2022.
Greenery will have an important place in this wooden building because there will be 240m² of winter gardens, 70m² of roof terraces and hanging gardens. The delivery of the program is scheduled for 2023.
