USIN at Lyon Parilly: the densification of a former wasteland
Practical notebook no. 16: (Re)developing productive activities in metropolitan areas
Thierry Petit, November 2024
The Usin project is the ‘totem of urban industry in the Lyon metropolitan area’. Supported by the Lyon metropolitan area, the aim of the site’s development is to revitalise industry at the heart of the urban fabric by creating a 4.0 industrial business park. The Usin Lyon Parilly project is based on the redevelopment and structural reorganisation of the Bosch industrial site, as well as the construction of new buildings capable of accommodating future industry players. Usin includes a landscaped environmental component and is organised around shared services, facilities and resources throughout the site.
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For a number of years, the Lyon Metropolitan Area has had a strong commitment to maintaining and developing its industrial base, as demonstrated by the introduction in 2009 of a business hosting scheme covering the conurbation. This scheme is then incorporated into town planning documents, in particular the Intercommunal Local Town Planning Scheme (PLUI), with the creation of a ‘ industry ’ category (UEi1) to protect industrial sites and prevent them from being converted to other uses (such as offices).
With these tools at its disposal, the Metropole has the power to negotiate with industrial players and owners of industrial land when selling all or part of a site. It also maintains an ongoing dialogue with the main owners, which enables it to detect any plans to sell land at an early stage.
When the owner voluntarily commits to this cooperative process, the Metropole offers engineering support to reduce costs, support in developing the project for the future site and the organisation of calls for projects to support it. This is how the USIN project emerged on the former Bosch Rexroth site in Lyon Parilly.
Bosch, which occupies a twenty-hectare plot of land, contacted the Metropole as part of an employment protection plan (PSE). The company wanted help with a project to sell 11 hectares of land corresponding to the site of its Rexroth injection pump factory, which had just closed, in order to redeploy jobs there. The USIN project, drawn up in conjunction with the Bosch site manager, aims to redevelop industrial activities on the site in order to make the most of it.
The 11-hectare site includes 30,000 square metres of various industrial buildings, including a hall (11,000 square metres). Bosch put several development projects out to tender on the basis of a restricted consultation of developers and SERL, Greater Lyon’s development company, and with the support of the Metropolitan Authority as part of its project management assistance (AMO). SERL’s project was selected.
It includes the renovation of 30,000 square metres of existing buildings and the construction of a further 30,000 square metres to eventually accommodate 1,000 industrial jobs on the site. SAS USIN was set up jointly by SERL, Banque des Territoires and Caisse d’Épargne Rhône-Alpes to carry out the project. SERL wished to retain ownership of the land and premises and planned to redevelop the site, including through new construction. After a preliminary clean-up operation carried out by Bosch under the supervision of the Regional Department for the Environment, Planning and Housing, SERL acquired the land for €15 million, a year and a half after reaching an agreement with the Metropolitan Authority. The programme is designed to accommodate innovative businesses, start-ups, VSEs and SMEs producing small and medium-sized series and prototyping activities. It also includes La Ruche Industrielle, a meeting and sharing space, which also houses a project accelerator (BOOSTART programme) and a coworking site. The companies housed are all tenants under standard commercial leases, but also under temporary leases for start-ups or companies looking for short-term solutions.
Project sponsors
Bosch, former owner of the site. The Metropole of Lyon. USIN, owner of the site, which is responsible for its development and management, with the following shareholders: SERL (Société d’équipement et d’aménagement du Rhône et de Lyon, 41.86%), Banque des territoires (40.14%) and Caisse d’Épargne Rhône-Alpes (18%).
The USIN site today
At the beginning of 2024, the USIN site will be home to some 440 jobs. Between 2019 and 2023, it was home to Symbio, a joint venture between Faurecia and Michelin that manufactures fuel cells for vehicles. The company temporarily occupied the main hall for four years. With 3,500 square metres when it arrived in 2019, it gradually spread out over the entire hall (11,000 m2) as it grew. In December 2023, Symbio moved into its gigafactory in Saint-Fons, near Lyon, the largest integrated fuel cell production site in Europe, and currently employs 750 people. Since November 2023, USIN has had two new buildings (10,000 m2) of production space representing an investment of 13.5 million euros.
Success factors
Negotiation and the involvement of the owner were the keys to the project’s success, as were a restrictive PLUI classification and a strong political will to preserve the site’s industrial vocation, which made it possible to maintain a reasonable land acquisition price.