Business hosting schemes to rationalise the regional offer

Practical notebook no. 16: (Re)developing productive activities in metropolitan regions

Thierry Petit, November 2024

Institut Paris Région (IAU)

To download : cp16_ok_bat_web.pdf (7.3 MiB)

The SAE is a contractual document, which usually brings together all the parties involved in the economic development of an area, at least at the level of a public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation, or even at the level of a département or region.

This voluntary approach complements the compulsory master plans and territorial coherence schemes, which do not have the same objectives. It has the advantage of providing a collective vision for local players and reducing competition between local authorities, while giving investors a clearer picture. This transparency can encourage the production of property that is better adapted to needs and staggered over time according to a pre-established timetable. Ultimately, the offer is clarified and rationalised, which may mean that competing projects are abandoned. Setting up an EAS makes it possible to clarify and prioritise the range of business parks available in the region, and possibly to thematise them by type of function (industrial park, tertiary park, technology park, etc.), or even by sector of activity (logistics, aeronautics, high technology, etc.), by relying on a core group of players who are already present.

This theme-based approach helps to diversify the offer and make it easier for companies to move from one location to another. Exchanges linked to the design of an SAE enable public players to establish a coherent timetable for the creation of new offers, to programme the rehabilitation and upgrading of sites that need it, and to better plan the facilities and services to be developed, all on a scale more suited to the economic world. Ultimately, setting up an EAS enhances the attractiveness of an area and makes it clearer to both internal and external stakeholders, making it easier to promote the area with a unified message for the various players. As a contractual document, the SAE begins with an inventory of the existing offer. The second stage consists of establishing contact and dialogue between elected representatives and technicians from the various bodies in the region: local authorities, inter-communal bodies, town planning agencies, as well as developers, representatives of business property and representatives of the economic world (CCI and chambers of trade, in particular). This process of exchanging points of view enables a consensus to emerge on the medium/long-term needs of companies and on the organisation of the territorial offer of business sites at different scales, which meets the objectives mentioned above. A roadmap formalises the points of agreement and the timetable adopted, as well as the decision-making ‘rules of the game’. The EAS is a long process, lasting up to twelve months. It is also necessary to think about its monitoring, the indicators selected and the resources implemented to ensure this.

The conditions for a successful EAS

Political support, which presupposes a community capable of taking decisions on a regional scale. Involvement of the economic world upstream in defining objectives and downstream in monitoring. Project-based organisation. The importance of dialogue and education for all stakeholders, with an identified and recognised leader.

Sources

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