Hautes-Pyrénées: the department is doing €6.3 million of work in colleges in 2024

In the courtyard of the Desaix college in Tairbes, workers are working on the carpentry of one of the buildings. “We are changing the external joinery as part of the thermal renovation of buildings. This is the fifth degree of freedom outside of Colaiste Desaix. There will still be a portion left at this college next year,” affirms Hervé Borderolles, the department’s technician in charge of research work in the colleges.

“This is a unique, bent aluminum carpentry. This is no ordinary variation of carpentry. The project is a bit more complicated. Initially, it was single glazed timber joinery and then we installed double glazed aluminum joinery. The budget for this fifth installment amounts to €200,000 for a total budget of €1M” said Hervé Borderolles.

Energy regeneration

“Here we see work related to energy renewal. Sometimes, we replace gas boilers with geothermal energy, which is what we did last year, here in Desaix. In some colleges, we make insulation from the outside, we replace lights with LEDs.

This is an approach that has been used for many years by elected officials to reduce energy consumption to limit operating costs. Then, there is another aspect related to improving the comfort of the students. This is what we are doing in Desaix by renewing school life,” explained Rozenn Guyot, deputy general director responsible for colleges, buildings and digital technology at the Hautes-Pyrénées regional council.

The community is spending a total budget of €6.3 million for colleges for the year 2024. This envelope is part of the multi-year plan, from 2024 to 2028, for a sum of €30 million.

Each year, this includes carrying out both heavy and lock maintenance work and major repairs. The latter, this year, amounts to €1.3 million for all centers.

In terms of major interventions, the main one this year is related to the renovation of the Massey college in Tarbes for a total amount of €2.3 million. The Victor-Hugo college in Tarbes will see the end of the facade re-qualification work (€960,000) and the start of the renovation of the thermal centers (€930,000).

The Maréchal Foch d’Arreau college is to renovate the main entrance and the square (€200,000). At the Blanche-Odin college in Bagnères, the department is creating new toilets for students and refurbishing existing ones (€200,000). At the Val d’Arros college in Tournay, the community is replacing the roof, installing photovoltaic panels and renovating two courtyards (€450,000).