The urban potential of brownfield sites
Land artificialisation has accelerated since the 1980s. The very recent ‘Green to Grey’ project, carried out in 11 European countries, reveals that it could be even twice as much as that estimated by the European Environment Agency1. The fact remains that building housing and infrastructure is necessary for human beings. In this context, in order to limit artificialisation and protect natural areas and biodiversity, the redevelopment of brownfield sites - land that has already been artificialised but abandoned - presents both advantages and challenges. Let’s take a look.
What is a brownfield site?
A brownfield site is land - or a group of buildings - that was previously used but has been abandoned. According to the French town planning code, this is ‘any property or right to property, whether built or not, that is unused and whose condition, configuration or total or partial occupation does not allow it to be re-used without prior development or works’2.
The decree of 27 December 2023 provides more details: this may involve a ‘high concentration of vacant dwellings or substandard housing’, vacant or degraded premises or facilities, particularly following the definitive cessation of activity, or a site where pollution has been identified but where the person responsible or the operator has disappeared or become insolvent. The cost of its re-use is significant and may represent a financial imbalance between the cost of acquisition and intervention on the one hand, and the market price for the type of property concerned or taking into account the intended change of use on the other. According to this decree, undeveloped land used for agricultural or forestry purposes cannot be considered as a brownfield site3.
In English-speaking countries, we speak of a ‘brownfield’, particularly when the site has been contaminated by some form of pollution as a result of the activities carried out there before it was abandoned4.
Canary Wharf: a former port converted into a modern business district in London
The redevelopment of brownfield sites is not a new concept. Canary Wharf is a telling example of a former commercial port, covered in warehouses, now transformed into a luxury district of London. As the capital's third-largest business centre, it also boasts luxury accommodation and no longer resembles what it once was. The redevelopment of this area in the 1970s and 1980s completely transformed the landscape, but some symbolic elements of the former port area have been preserved and redeveloped, to bear witness to the past and the history of these places.7
Brownfield site: its advantages for a sustainable city
Redeveloping brownfield sites is often more costly and difficult than investing in a greenfield site. However, given the need to preserve natural areas and biodiversity, many countries are seeking to encourage and promote their redevelopment.
France, for example, has set itself the target, through its Climate and Resilience law, of achieving 'zero net artificialisation' (ZAN) of its land by 20508. In other words, if a previously non-artificialised area is to be artificialised, another equivalent area will have to be renatured. This law aims to limit the transformation of natural, agricultural or forest land, while encouraging the development of already urbanised areas, including brownfield sites. It should also lead to a restriction on urban sprawl and the economic revitalisation of abandoned neighbourhoods and economic zones. In 2022, VINCI Immobilier became the first property developer to commit to achieving ‘zero net artificialisation’ by 2030, 20 years ahead of the regulations.
Another challenge in the redevelopment of brownfield sites is decontamination. Leaving certain brownfield sites abandoned can pose a risk to health and the environment. On the one hand, the decontamination of these sites is often very costly. On the other hand, the collective memory of local residents, who associate the former brownfield site with its industrial past, may make potential buyers hesitant to invest in it9. And yet there are some fine initiatives showing that it is possible to successfully redevelop former polluted sites, thereby helping to preserve the environment and breathe new life into a neighbourhood or even a region.
In Canada, in the province of Quebec, for example, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources made it possible for New Calumet, a former lead, gold, zinc and silver mine abandoned in the 1970s, to be redeveloped in 2023 in order to reduce the risks to the environment and communities and to allow future development. In France, the redevelopment of the Wallers-Arenberg coal mine in the Hauts-de-France region in the 1990s, following the cessation of mining activities in 1989, enabled it to be transformed into a filming location that also houses the headquarters of the conurbation authority, a centre for scientific, technical and industrial culture and a multimedia interpretation centre. Today, the site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A guide to the redevelopment of brownfields sites
Reclassification requires technique and method. First of all, you have to correctly identify the sites, assess their potential and then find the funding before embarking on a project10, which can sometimes take a long time.
Universeine, in Saint-Denis - how a former brownfield site became the athletes' village for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
The redevelopment work, which began in July 2021, was completed in time for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The project was led by both VINCI Immobilier and VINCI Construction. The former electricity production site, which was used to run the metropolitan rail network, was initially transformed into the athletes' village for the Games, before being converted into housing and offices in a second phase, once the event was over. This was made possible by constructing a building from the outset that could be easily restructured internally to transform its use. It’s an ecological approach to be pursued for less costly conversions.11
Hangar Y: a historic aeronautical site transformed into a cultural venue
Unused for 40 years, Hangar Y, a building 70m long, 40m wide and 23m high, located in Meudon in the Île-de-France region, was built in 1879 and notably hosted the world's first closed-circuit airship flight. Redeveloped in 2022 after two years of renovation work, it is now a venue for exhibitions and events open to the general public. It also houses a restaurant and workshops that can be reserved for private use. In 2022, VINCI Immobilier became the first national property developer to commit to generating more than 50% of its sales from urban recycling operations by 2030.
Identifying brownfields sites, assessing their potential and financing a project using databases
To help achieve its renaturing targets, the French government is making a number of tools available. This is the case with Cerema’s national Cartofriches12 platform, which lists known brownfield sites, enabling investors to search through thousands of sites throughout France. Next, the characteristics of the site, its environment and the needs of the surrounding community must be studied to determine whether it is suitable for the project.
Investors can use the Bénéfriches13 tool, developed by Ademe, to quantify the environmental, economic and social benefits generated by the conversion of the chosen brownfield site. Finally, there are a number of financial aid schemes available to help with a redevelopment project, particularly for soil decontamination. The Ministry for Ecological Transition regularly organises national calls for projects. The future investment programme, as well as various regional green funds, can also be mobilised to finance this type of project.
A former recycling centre transformed into a residential area in Toulouse
VINCI Immobilier embarked on a major project to transform a former NXP (formerly Motorola) site in Toulouse, which was used as a recycling centre, into a 15-hectare ‘urban village’ comprising housing, shops and offices. The Nuances project, delivered in 2021, used the third-party applicant scheme in 2014 to speed up the redevelopment operation.’14
There are many advantages to redeveloping brownfield sites, including preserving the environment and revitalising old neighbourhoods. And in the future, with buildings that are demountable and mapping of materials that can be reused, conversions will be cheaper and easier to implement than today.
Sources :
1 Le Monde : « La destruction des espaces naturels largement sous-estimée par l’Union européenne » – https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2025/10/01/la-destruction-des-espaces-naturels-largement-sous-estimee-par-l-union-europeenne_6643827_4355770.html
2 Légifrance : « Code de l’urbanisme » – https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000043965974
3 Ordre des architectes : « La notion de “friche” précisée par décret » – https://www.architectes.org/actualites/la-notion-de-friche-precisee-par-decret-91424
4 Pronger Nature Link : « Urban Brownfields : Origin, Definition, and Diversity. The Urban Book Series », Emmanuel Rey, Martine Laprise et Sophie Lufkin – https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-82208-8_2
5 Ministère de la Culture : définition de friche urbaine du Journal officiel du 16/12/1998 –https://www.culture.fr/franceterme/terme/CULT415
6 Banque des Territoires : « Quelle est la définition d’une friche ? » – https://www.banquedesterritoires.fr/questions-reponses/friche-definition
7 OpenEdition Journals : « L’opération de régénération des Docklands : entre patrimonialisation et invention d’un nouveau paysage urbain », Perrine Michon – https://journals.openedition.org/rge/1104
8 Vie publique : « Zéro artificialisation nette (ZAN) des sols : où en est-on après la loi climat et résilience de 2021 ? » – https://www.vie-publique.fr/eclairage/287326-zero-artificialisation-nette-zan-des-sols-ou-en-est
9 Université de Montpellier : « Comment dépolluer les friches industrielles face à la défiance des habitants ? » – https://www.umontpellier.fr/articles/comment-depolluer-les-friches-industrielles-face-a-la-defiance-des-habitants
10 Cerema : « Réhabiliter les friches : opportunités et méthodologie » – https://www.cerema.fr/fr/actualites/rehabiliter-friches-opportunites-methodologie
11 VINCI Construction : « Universeine, terrain de jeu de la réversibilité » – https://france.vinci-construction.com/fr/universeine-reversibilite/
VINCI Immobilier : « Universeine, futur quartier de vie durable pour les évènements sportifs de 2024 » –https://www.vinci-immobilier.com/actualites/universeine-futur-quartier-de-vie-durable-pour-les-evenements-sportifs-de-2024
12 Cerema : cartographie des friches – https://cartofriches.cerema.fr/cartofriches/_w_a1679105be9d49ba931af5ade24d47b6/?bbox=-5.69091796875,39.351290355267,10.8544921875,52.4560093926408
13Ademe : « Évaluer les bénéfices socio-économiques de la reconversion de friches pour lutter contre l’artificialisation. Outil Bénéfriches » – https://librairie.ademe.fr/changement-climatique/3772-evaluer-les-benefices-socio-economiques-de-la-reconversion-de-friches-pour-lutter-contre-l-artificialisation-outil-benefriches.html?results=1009#
14ReCreation : Exemple de tiers demandeur : à Toulouse, un ancien site Motorola transformé en « village urbain » - https://recreation-magazine.fr/exemple-tiers-demandeur/
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