Véronique Sani – First and foremost, we wanted to bring together teams divided up between more than 20 different sites. There are currently 9,000 employees working in the BPCE Towers, equivalent to the population of a small town! We also went out of our way to ensure that the interior layout included innovative local services to meet as many of their needs as possible. Throughout the project, one of our key priorities was to design an environment capable of simplifying their daily lives and of offering them the greatest possible quality of life at work. That’s the advantage of being involved in a construction project from the beginning: we designed the towers in line with our working methods – which have dramatically changed in the last few years – in order to provide our employees with a completely new experience in terms of efficiency and well-being. We have also set up tools to monitor their satisfaction to respond more effectively to their needs. This approach will be based on a regular adaptation of their environment and associated services. Our towers will sustain our activities and continue to evolve in pace with changes in our group, of which these buildings are our common home.

Laurent Benatar – Absolutely! When the first stone was laid in 2017, the neighborhood was still rather inhospitable. It took a certain amount of confidence and courage to conduct a project of this scale. But supporting the regions is part of the cooperative DNA of our group, which operates at a local and regional level and finances more than 20% of the French economy. This proximity is also expressed in the physical nature of our towers, which shouldn’t be seen merely as a real estate complex that happens to be located in this part of Paris but as a true stakeholder with an interest in the neighborhood itself. Indeed, as the esplanade and the passage between the two towers are spaces open to the public, we are fully integrated into our immediate environment, the life of our quarter and its development. Bruneseau remains a neighborhood in a state of flux, just like our group, and this is what motivates us: to continue to build, imagine, and innovate.

V. S. – Between 2020 and 2023, 20,000 employees will have moved to nine sites in three neighborhoods: the ‘Austerlitz’ quarter, with the Elements, Braudel, and Austerlitz 2 buildings; the ‘Bibliothèque nationale de France’ quarter with the BPCE and Odyssey Towers and, lastly, the ‘Charenton’ quarter with the Liberté 2, Nouveau Bercy, and Coupole buildings, in addition to the Montmartre site. These quarters all share one thing in common: they integrate the various components of CSR in terms of environmental protection, with a particular focus on the reduction of carbon emissions, in terms of social inclusion and accessibility and, of course, in terms of the quality of life at work for our employees. The interior design is therefore aligned with their aspirations, offering varied and welcoming spaces, as well as extended services connected to their needs. As a company ‘born in the neighborhood’ – let’s not forget that our group originated from this area! – we remain loyal to it and are investing in its ongoing development.

L. B. – First of all, our tenacity! And it took a lot of tenacity to face and overcome the obstacles of which there is never a shortage in a project of this scale. We have been particularly affected by events of unprecedented magnitude. I’m thinking, of course, of the health crisis that began in 2020, during which construction work continued while taking the necessary measures to adapt to this context. From start to finish, we believed in this tremendous adventure and our teams remained mobilized. I would also like to pay tribute to our steadfastness in supporting the partners working alongside us on this huge venture at a time when our group has experienced considerable change, leading us to adapt our building occupancy intentions several times. After ten years of monitoring this extraordinary project, we have now moved in. We are proud to welcome more than 9,000 employees and partners in the BPCE Towers. It is a feat of architectural imagination but also a technological triumph considering that we have equipped our buildings to make them intelligent structures.

V. S. – Laurent talks about tenacity, I would also like to add ‘fortitude.’ I remember my first visit to the construction site wearing a pair of boots and a helmet… It took imagination to visualize the towers in a neighborhood that was still largely in the making. We believed firmly in this project, we believed in this district and today we are very proud of these towers that I personally find particularly attractive.