At the UPDS General Assembly on 4 April 2019, Franck Bouché (VALGO) and Olivier Mergaux …
On the 13rd September, VALGO received on its worksite Hervé Morin, President of Normandy Region, Yvon Robert, President of Rouen Metropole, Jean-François Bures, Vice-President of the Seine-Maritime department and Joël Bigot, from Petit-Couronne council.
For this occasion, François Bouche, CEO of VALGO and Eric Branquet, expert in Brownfield remediation presented to the attendants the progress of VALGO’s works on this site since 2014. To this day, more than 70% of depollution works have been achieved and the deconstruction must be finished soon. The three smoke stacks of the ex-Petroplus, including the mythic red and white stack, will be destruct in 2020.
Key figures of the worksite:
All environmental remediation steps are controlled by the State services (DREAL):
study of natural environments, risks assessment, cleaning of oil facilities, pumping of oil wastes, destruction of industrials units of the refinery, purging of all underground sewer systems, pumping of hydrocarbon effluents at the interface between soil and groundwater.
The remediation works of this site have already created almost 300 jobs on the territory with the arrival of about ten companies, of which VALGO and its Head Office. At the end, the aim of the depollution and asbestos removal Company is to achieve between 1000 and 1500 jobs in this new economic activity park in Normandy, which is mainly logistical.
The site will count on a direct serving by the Seine, a road infrastructure network, the proximity of Le Havre, strong growth in local demand. Once the development permit and the environmental authorization have been received in the spring of 2020, land development works per zone can begin.
The development project is intended to be of high quality in order to restore visual links with the Seine, recreate a generous wooded area and improve air quality, including wide sidewalks and bicycle paths to encourage moderate traffic.
After this morning’s visit, Hervé Morin, President of the Normandy region, a region with a strong industrial past, pointed out that “there are currently 170 industrial wastelands in Normandy. So, successful examples like Petit-Couronne must be set as replicable models ».