The city of Lambersart became a member of the HABITER2030 association in 2024. In this interview, the Deputy Director General of Services, Benjamin Boquet talks about the purpose of this commitment and shares observations after one year of collaboration.
How did you discover HABITER2030?
Benjamin Boquet. Personally, I closely followed the Solar Décathlon Europe and the renovation of 1930s housing. Seeing the work of H2030 inspired me to keep following the HABITER2030 association. Their anchoring in the territory makes sense because they consider heritage in terms of its historic and architectural importance, all while proposing the energy retrofitting of buildings in line with our current challenges, and while considering the required standards. In parallel, the elected officials of Lambersart demonstrated a major interest in the multi-scale approach, working with students guided by invested teachers, institutions, providers of housing, and residents.
Why did you join?
Benjamin Boquet. The city’s elected officials, for the most part, are familiar with the university approach and have a real interest in terms of experimentation. When the opportunity to offer up a concrete playing field for students invested in the area, allowing them to meet local actors, the elected officials wished to bring together parties that rarely get to meet. The format of the Méta Plateau Projet immediately earned their praise. It’s relevant in more than one way: First, it allows for the examination of several subjects, then, it considers the “already there” without prohibiting radical evolutions; and finally, it offers the possibility of pursuing reflections on the city centre, in progress for 15 years, and to join the current dynamic with the guiding plan for 2050 led by the MEL. To return to the initial topic, it’s about working on site and integrating scholastic institutions in the Bourg sector.
How does the Méta Plateau Projet work in Lambersart?
Benjamin Boquet. For this first MPP in Lambersart, students began by examining the high school and its environment, notably with neighbouring farm and its structurers in the midst of transformation – as of yet not well adapted or inclusive. The question of energy retrofitting is also at the heart of the project and the students have engaged in an active way, meeting with technicians on the subject of the boiler room, for example, or the building housing municipal technical services. In the future, as part of a new MPP, it is totally foreseeable to return to the subjection of scholastic institutions in a more restricted way.
To date, what has the collaboration with HABITER2030 brought you?
Benjamin Boquet. The process initiated with the association in the context of the MPP acted as an icebreaker with the scholastic institutions. Meetings with students and group visits enabled the creation of relationships and encounters with the key actors to bring a new perspective to our shared issues. This project allows us to pursue different ideas around the city centre, preserving its strong historic character and imagining the continuation of our history. The officials and I also recognise the freshness of the student perspective on our data and constraints, which demonstrates the power of multi-disciplinarity. In the context of inflation, with budget reductions, their capacity to think differently, not to be limited by anything while staying focused on feasibility studies has been great for us. Their radicality is interesting and life-saving, that’s why we are so impatiently awaiting their final deliverables. Will elevated green walkways be proposals that we keep and study seriously? We’re already excited for early February.
To whom would you recommend HABITER2030 and why?
Benjamin Boquet. To all groups facing difficult subjects, stalled subjects, where creativity and iteration will be necessary to get out from being crushed by administrative and internal weight! HABITER2030 offers ambitious solutions in terms of reuse and recycling. These subjects with architectural, energetic, social and urban stakes are for the long term and are also totally appropriate for work with the association. The quality of student management, whether with Denis Plancque, Vincent Ducatez, Eric Delacourt, Thomas Roillet and Nathalie Klément, or in a more institutional way with Béatrice Auxent and Christophe Bartholeyns, allows for great visibility.
In a more down to earth way, I should say that compared to the costs of the membership, the return on the investment is exceptional. It will have allowed us to recommit ourselves to a number of projects, to gain visibility, to stimulate curiosity, and to work on uses with residents. This external perspective layered on a sensory, architectural, historic “already there” invites us to consider our environment differently. All the work and material produced make for a great opportunity to bring together residents, officials and local actors to write the future of Lambersart’s history.
