Lens (62)
170 Avenue Alfred Van Pelt
62300 Lens
GPS coordinates :
50.432276, 2.845321
Planting an urban forest on a brownfield site
Types of layout
Nature area, reforestation
Issues :
Renaturation
Green in the city
Status:
Landscaping completed
Project presentation
This project, led by EPF Hauts-de-France, also involves the City of Lens and the Lens-Liévin Conurbation Community, in conjunction with the Hauts-de-France Region through the Regional Forestry Plan. Unlike a natural forest, an urban forest is the result of design. EPF designed this forest with a multidimensional approach: ecological, landscape, sensory, well-being and educational. ECT makes it happen.
Key figures
September to October 2020
Soil inputs – first phase
trees planted
September 2022
Soil inputs – second phase
hectares
of rehabilitated surface area
Partners
Project life
In Lens, educational planting activity with schoolchildren, actors in their territory
December 2023 – For one morning, the 47 pupils from Basly school and the 7 eco-delegates from Béhal high school were able to discover the project to transform a former industrial wasteland into an urban forest. They were able to participate in the final phase of the Van Pelt Avenue project by planting 500 trees, a tangible gesture towards a greener future. In all, almost 12,000 trees have been planted since the project began, covering an area of almost 20,000 m².
Speech by Guillaume Lemoine at the Intersol'2023 conference
Mars 2023 – Intersol will be held in Lille on March 28, 29 and 30. The theme of this 22nd edition is “The ground: a springboard for territorial transition.” The program is structured into 5 sessions. Guillaume Lemoine will take part in the “Territorial planning and site conversion” session on March 28 at 4pm. He will present the case study of the Van Pelt site in Lens, developed by ECT in partnership with EPF Hauts-de-France.
Project awarded Euralens label
The urban forest project, carried out in partnership with the EPF and Lens town council, has a strong exemplary and demonstrative dimension in the ecological treatment of the area’s wasteland. It was in this context that the Pôle Métropolitain de l’Artois awarded it the Euralens 2022 label.
A redwood tree planted in tribute to American soldiers
December 2022 – A remarkable sequoia tree is planted in tribute to the American soldiers who were heroes of the First World War. A ceremony was held on Monday, December 12, in the presence of Jean-François Raffy, sub-prefect of the Lens district, Cathy Apourceau-Poly, Senator for the Pas-de-Calais region, and Sylvain Robert, Mayor and Chairman of the Communauté d’Agglomération de Lens-Liévin, and Julien Golaszewsky, Director of the ECT Hauts-de-France branch.
The evolution of work in the urban forest
Summer 2021 – The Van Pelt site in Lens began its transformation in 2021, with the first injections of excavated soil to rehabilitate and transform the industrial wasteland. Renaturation and planting operations began in winter 2021.
A video review of the work carried out by ECT.
Street art on an old industrial panel
June 2022 – For 2 days, the Red Bricks collective and its graffiti artist Bertrand Parse created a fresco on an old industrial panel on the site. The fresco evokes the flora and fauna of the future urban forest: bats, bees, trees and shrubs.
In Lens, children plant the first trees of the future urban forest
“On Saint Catherine’s Day, everything takes root
November 2021 – On the former industrial site on avenue Van Pelt in Lens (62), children from the Emile Basly school planted around a hundred trees. These trees will be the first to form the future urban forest. This renaturation and awareness-raising initiative is part of the Festival de l’Arbre, organized by Lens town council and EPF Hauts-de-France. This event symbolizes the transformation of this wasteland into an urban forest.
3 questions for the project owner, EPF Hauts-de-France
Guillaume Lemoine, Head of Development and Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering at EPF Hauts-de-France, explains how a circular economy policy is being implemented to support the ecology of this project.
A project driven by the principles of the circular economy
As soon as the buildings were deconstructed, EPF Hauts-de-France supported the project by implementing a circular waste economy. The renaturation of the site is not only financed by excavated soil, but also involves a wide range of recycling activities.
3 main recycling actions:
The circular economy of excavated soil, ECT’s expertise: the reuse of inert soil from local construction sites is an opportunity to rehabilitate degraded land and act to transform the site.
Using the neighboring site as a “nursery” for the urban forest: trees and shrubs were removed for replanting on the site of the future urban forest.
Recycling for biodiversity: abandoned nozzles are reused as cavities for hibernating bats. Sand brought in from the old racks at the nearby waste disposal center will provide micro-habitats for psammophilous wild bees and other sand-loving insects.
