Meeting with Sébastien Zonghero, responsible, since December 2020, by the State (Ministries of Culture and Economy), to set up an operational governance between the State and all local authorities, to support the site conversion process.
Sébastien Zonghero, project manager "Clairvaux"
At the Ministry of Culture since 2003, Sébastien Zonghero was in charge of La Francophonie at the General Delegation to the French Language and Languages of France, then Chief of Staff to the Secretary General of the Ministry, before taking up the post of Deputy Secretary General at the National Heritage Institute (INP).
Prior to this mission to Clairvaux, he was responsible for promoting the heritage expertise of the Ministry of Culture internationally, through projects carried out in partnership with Expertise France in Tunisia (modernization of the museum of Carthage) and Cameroon (modernisation of the National Museum of Yaoundé).
Can-vointroduce us your mission on Clairvaux?
Sébastien Zonghero : Following the confirmation by the prison administration of the closure of the Clairvaux power station, located in the department of Aube, the French State has strongly reaffirmed its commitment to the redevelopment of the Clairvaux site, which is a challenge in terms of prestige and scale (30,000 m2 of historical monuments on nearly 30 hectares).
Aerial view of the site. In the eastern half the main buildings occupied by the penitentiary center, and in the north, the buildings owned by the Ministry of Culture partly open to visits
The State has decided to take the project to the central administration of the Ministry of Culture, with the appointment of a project manager responsible, under the authority of the Director General of Heritage and Architecture, to prepare, in close collaboration with the actors of the territory and in the first place the communities, the project of cultural, heritage, tourist, economic and environmental reconversion of the former abbey become prison under Napoleon Ier.
A mission letter, signed by Roselyne Bachelot, Minister of Culture, and Olivier Dussopt, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, in charge of public accounts, instructs me to set up, under the authority of the Director General of Heritage and Architecture, operational governance between the State and local authorities to support this conversion process.
Photos: The convers building, the cellar (XIIe s. ); The Little Cloister (XVIIIe s. ); The landscape of the site; Le petit Clairvaux (XIIe, XVIIIe and XIXe s)
In quoi consists of this operational governance State/communities?
Sébastien Zonghero : The system deployed with the establishment of a State/local authority project team and a collaborative working method, is an innovative approach in the institutional landscape. It is a question of really co-constructing this project of national dimension with regard to its owner and very important local issues, in particular in terms of spatial planning.
On the State side, in addition to the Ministry of Culture, which I represent with Virginie Thévenin, Deputy Regional Director, in charge of heritage at the DRAC Grand Est, and Emeline Trevesaïgues, Project Manager at theDirectorate of Historical Monuments and Heritage Sites, Directorate General of Heritage and Architecture (DGPA), are members the Sub-Prefect of Bar-sur-Aube and the Directorate of State Real Estate (DIE). On the community side, it includes representatives of the Grand Est region, the Aube department, the community of communes of the Bar-sur-Aube region and the municipality of Ville-sous-la-Ferté.
Photographs: The Convers Building (XIIe s. ); Hostellerie des Dames (XVIe s. ); The Chemistry Pavilion (XVIIIe s. ); The disciplinary ward (XIXe s)
"A constructive working atmosphere"
Since September 2020, the project team has met monthly. We have made good progress on several strategic axes in a constructive working atmosphere.
To validate, at regular pace, the proposals formulated, a tight political steering has been taken. This strategic committee brings together the Director General of Heritage and Architecture of the Ministry of Culture, the Director of the Directorate of Real Estate of the State - Grand Est, the Prefect of Aube, the President of the Grand Est region, the President of the Departmental Council of Aube, the President of the community of communes of the Region of Bar-sur-Aube and the Mayor of Ville-sous-la-Ferté.
How didfather thisgovernance?
Sébastien Zonghero : One of the first missions of the project team was the preparation of a «political» framework agreement, which will soon be signed to oversee the strategic governance of the project. This is to formalize the agreement of the parties concerned by the future of the site.
The foreshadowing will thus be materialized by the establishment of a phase of competition that will make it possible to select, in a transparent way, the leader or leaders of the reconversion project. The idea is to move towards a consultation allowing via a competitive dialogue with the bidders, to select the most ambitious project in terms of heritage development and spatial planning, but also the most relevant in terms of the activities envisaged and the proposed economic model.
"Take into account theCommunity issues
The strength of this approach is the consideration of community issues. I myself am elected as a municipal and community member. I share perfectly the concern of the communities for which, the reconversion of Clairvaux must be approached certainly from the angle of the heritage but also from that of the territory and the attractiveness. My mission was to reassure communities of the State’s willingness to move in this direction. Through the team that we constitute, which is a concrete demonstration of the intention of the State, the communities are stakeholders of the upstream phase of the consultation in preparation and will obviously participate alongside the State, the selection of the project leader(s).
The disciplinary district (XIXe - XXe s. ); hen cages (XIXe s. ); Great cloister (XVIIIe s)
The master mois it for you «coordination»?
Sébastien Zonghero This is essential, with the communities, but also, I would like to emphasize, between the directorates of the Ministry of Culture and other State services. We are in constant exchange and this way of working interdepartmentally illustrates the total mobilization of the State.
A convention also binds the Ministry of Justice with that of Culture. It establishes relations between the two administrations by allowing the DRAC Grand Est to initiate restoration work on protected buildings that are no longer used by the prison administration.
Finally, on the territory, the DRAC Grand Est continues to support the Renaissance association of the abbey of Clairvaux, which takes care of the reception of visitors to the site (from 20 to 30,000 per year).
Photos: The old library (XVIIIe - XIXe s. ); The court of honour (XVIIIe s. ): the north stables; The children’s prison (xviiie-XIXe s. ); the refectory-chapel (XVIIIe s)
What are the key elements ofe success of the tender?
Sébastien Zonghero Its success depends on the degree of maturation and the implementation of high-level operational and scientific steering. From the outset, we defined the nature of the studies necessary to establish an accurate diagnosis of the site and feed the specifications of the future call for tenders:
- a heritage study available since the end of 2020, based on the work of the chief architect of historic monuments. It makes it possible to establish the state of conservation of the properties protected as historic monuments and to define the first possible works on each of the buildings;
- an environmental, landscape and hydraulic study (funded and supported by the Ministry of Culture) which will complete the heritage study. It is inconceivable to work on the Clairvaux du XXIe century, of which one of the major assets is its natural site, without taking into account the landscape, biodiversity or sustainable development dimensions;
- a tourism impact study, led by the department of Aube, to establish a diagnosis of the existing and lay the foundations of the potential of the site of Clairvaux.
- a legal study, finally, which will be supported by the State and intended to establish the table of public domain occupancy scenarios likely to be proposed to project leaders.
All of this work will result in a consultation file. The State, through the DIE, invests significantly by enabling the project to be supported by a project management assistant.
"a preserved natural site"
View of part of the perimeter wall
Hydraulic network
Why do call for assistancebook rise?
Sébastien Zonghero : The use of a project management assistant (AMO) is necessary to steer and secure the competitive process that will select the new operator or operators of Clairvaux.
The firm IN EXTENSO Tourism Culture Hospitality, which has just been selected, will accompany the project team in the formalization of the procedure and the constitution, under the control of the State, of the competitive consultation file, as well as the organization and monitoring of the different phases of the competitive dialogue.
Extenso TCH will be in charge of defining the ambitions of the parties. Without entering into programming scenarios, it will be a question of specifying the expectations of each partner for this site in terms of heritage, cultural, tourism, territorial and economic etc.
The firm will also be responsible for developing a «master plan» defining space by space the type of protection, the proposed concession modalities and the possibilities in terms of work to implement new activities that will be the heart of the call for projects. Thus, the potential private investor will have a clear vision of the possible work and the share that will return to the State regarding the closed and covered. Offers may be made on the basis of technical, economic, legal and financial elements allowing an accurate diagnosis of the site. This is the condition for having solid offers.
The project will be selected based on its financial sustainability, attention to the heritage framework, the activities that will be proposed and their ambition for the influence of the site and the territory.
The priority and challenge for the Ministry of Culture lies in the reuse of this heritage, to ensure its long-term conservation.
The barn (XVIIIe s)
The calendar
2021
- Firm selection IN EXTENSO Tourism Culture Hospitality as project management assistant for the planning and organisation of the competitive phase with expectations of the conversion project and master plan
- Signature of the State Cooperation Convention - Local authorities
- Carrying out additional studies (environment/ hydraulic network, tourism potential, occupancy...)
July 2022
- Launch of the consultation of the call for expressions of interest
November 2023
- Appointment of candidates authorised to continue the call for expressions of interest procedure
2e semester 2023
- Plant closure
September 2023
- Final selection of the winner of the call for expressions of interest
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