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Les Vallées du Saint Désiré must become sustainable

Saint Désiré, a small agricultural village in a beautiful green, hilly landscape, is located in the heart of France. It is the France that we know from the pictures: enchanting. One of the farms, "Bonneblond", was bought by three Dutch entrepreneurs, all three of whom are affiliated with the construction industry and the development of real estate. They want to develop the farm and the farmland surrounding it into a sustainable top resort.

The plan includes the construction of approximately 350 homes and facilities, including a wellness centre, combined with medical facilities if possible. The plans are in their initial stage and are awaiting a final go-ahead from the French government. As all obstacles have been removed, the last piece of paper is now required in order to be able to start the development. Until that time, activities will be held off. Nevertheless, we would now like to inform you about this plan, for various reasons, with regard to its implementation, in particular, as it could be the first completely sustainable (recreation) accommodation project in France .

Sustainable in every respect
Sustainability is a container concept. Everyone takes an aspect and promises to create a sustainable project from it. Often, the focus is then upon one aspect, usually saving energy or, as it is considered even worse: CO2 emissions. In Saint Désiré, the four P’s – people, planet, prosperity and project – otherwise known as quadruple P, are being put into action. The idea is to find a balance between the social aspects (people), the ecological aspects (planet), the economic aspects (prosperity) and the spatial aspects (project). Anton Sinke, Director of CasaMundus, took an active part in developing the initial draft design of the project and it was his idea to make the project fully sustainable. We talk to him about the approach.

A place for people
‘I believe that developers focus upon the technical aspects too much and as a result, overlook the future users’, explains Sinke. 'You can make a home climate-neutral in every aspect, but the question then is whether it can still be lived in. The idea behind quadruple P is that there must be a balance between all aspects of a project.' According to Sinke, the project in Saint Désiré, which will very appropriately be called Les Vallées du Saint Désiré, will, as it were, be embedded in the existing fabric of the village and the surrounding nature. The project must not be a 'gated community' either, shutting out the other residents of the village. ‘In my opinion, the villagers must be actively involved in the ins and outs of ‘Les Vallées', but we wish to achieve climate-neutral homes too, and if possible, the energy balance must even work out positively. The question, however, is how far should you go? Les Vallées du Saint Désiré must first and foremost be a place for people, as that is important, and then the way in which the project is tackled further will follow automatically from there. It should therefore come as no surprise to me if the project is ultimately completely cradle to cradle, in the course of which the raw material chains are connected.’

Enthusiastic local population
The initial draft plans for the project have recently been presented to the local council and the residents of Saint Désiré. The initial suspicion - that it is somewhat of an interference for the community - has been taken away completely and people are extremely enthusiastic. Most people believed that Saint Désiré requires this boost and that it is coming at a good time.

The project is ambitious and this contributes to it being capital-intensive. One or more investors who wish to provide financial support to the project are currently being sought. Anyone interested in an individual home can also make his/her wishes known. They will then be kept up to date of the developments surrounding Les Vallées du Saint Désiré. ‘Les Vallées du Saint Désiré is the norm for me’, explains Anton Sinke. ‘Every project that I include in my portfolio for development and/or sale must comply with these requirements.’

Anton Sinke is happy to discuss the implementation of quadruple P with initiators of new accommodation and recreation projects both in France and abroad.

People - Planet - Prosperity