Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin (77)
D 401 Route du Mesnil-Amelot
77230 Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin
GPS coordinates :
49.0310310, 2.6286292
Agriculture, biodiversity and land art, in Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin
Types of layout
Agricultural vocation
Landscaped park
Issues :
Farm rehabilitation
Recreating environments conducive to biodiversity
Creating a work of land art
Key figures
2024
“Les Yeux du Ciel” will be visible from the sky
hectares
orchards, i.e. around 1,000 fruit trees
hectares
Biodiversity zone
hectares
area
Project life
"L'Oeil du Ciel" unveiled to over 400 visitors
September 2023 – The Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin site opened its doors for the first time. The 402 visitors were able to gain a new perspective on the future of the site. To mark the occasion, an escape game was offered, and adventurers were able to take part in it in glorious sunshine. A look back at a fun, educational and enthusiastic day.
Installation of nesting boxes, a favorable habitat for the Little Owl.
March 2023 – Preserving biodiversity is at the heart of ECT’s values. That’s why ECT is working with the LPO to protect the Little Owl. Two nesting boxes have been installed in the orchard to encourage this protected bird to settle and create corridors.
"L'Oeil du Ciel" planted by school children
February 2023 – At the top of the hill, 160 children from schools in Le Mesnil-Amelot and Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin were given a sneak preview of the “Oeil du Ciel” and helped to plant it. Work on the Eye named “Icare” began in June 2022. After the earthworks, the work is completed with the planting, an important and symbolic moment in the realization of this aerial land art project.
A site involved in Humanité et Biodiversité's "Oasis de Nature" network
The ECT site at Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin is now part of the large ecological network known as the “Nature Oases”. This inclusion in the network follows a visit by Humanité & Biodiversité to validate its ecological interest.
The great landscape of the Villeneuve site
On a fine autumn’s day, the ECT site in Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin reveals itself under the eye of photographer Gil Fornet.
Creation of a nesting area for the Oedicnème criard at Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin
Teams from ECT and ecologists from the Direction des Routes d’Île-de-France (DiRIF) have recreated an environment on the site that is ideal for the European protected bird, the Œdicnème criard. Eddie Farcy-Jirot, ecologist at DiRIF, takes a look at the challenges facing this compensation zone.
Photographer Anne-Marie Filaire, in Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin
The Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin site is one of the 6 sites photographed by Anne-Marie Filaire.
This groundbreaking documentary work can be found in his book “Terres, Sols profonds du Grand Paris”, published on September 17, 2020 by Dominique Carré – La Découverte.
Protect the Little Owl with the LPO
ECT is collaborating with the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux and plans to develop the Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin site to encourage the settlement of the Little Owl. The plan is to install nesting boxes in the orchards located on the renaturalized part of the site.
A concrete action that reflects our commitment to biodiversity and the preservation of endangered species.
Soil reception, traceability, control, earthworks, the site seen from the inside
The hill is made up of soil from construction sites. An impressive construction site to discover thanks to Gil Fornet’s photos
Humanité et Biodiversité raises awareness of biodiversity among ECT employees
How can you take action for nature every day at ECT sites?
As part of our partnership with Humanité et Biodiversité, Bernard Chevassus-au-Louis, the company’s president met with the teams in charge of operating ECT’s sites, to raise their awareness of the diversity of life. These exchanges continued during a unique nature walk on the Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin site.
The Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin site, from excavated soil to fertile land
The ECT site at Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin (77), under the Roissy airport runways, is the largest site in the Paris region for the reception and reuse of excavated soil. Discover, filmed from the air, the working riverbanks where inert soil excavated from construction sites all over the Paris region is unloaded. You can also find out what happens to land that has already been reused on this site: it’s now cultivated fields, reforested hillsides or even an orchard. A true demonstration of renaturation and restored fertility.
Participating in Sustainable Development Education with elementary school
ECT offers its services to elementary school as part of their Education for Sustainable Development program. The Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin site welcomed pupils from the local school and from Mesnil-Amelot. These are concrete actions in favor of the environment, with the planting of trees to contribute to the renaturation of the site.
Antoine Grumbach's Yeux du Ciel project in the press
On January 25, 2019, the official launch of the “Yeux du Ciel” cultural and environmental project took place. An event followed and relayed by the press, a beautiful magazine to discover.
The mechanical workshop at the Villeneuve site
Take a look at ECT’s mechanical workshop at the Villeneuve site. A dedicated team works on the machines to maintain and repair them. ECT’s fleet comprises some 100 construction machines, including bulldozers, dumpers, loaders, backhoe loaders, tankers and sweepers.
Reusing excavated soil creates virtuous projects
The France TV report on the “Yeux du Ciel” is an opportunity for Laurent MognoChairman of ECT, to illustrate the virtuous circle of the circular economy of excavated soil reuse. Land reclamation enables the development of new landscaped parks in the Paris region. In particular, he evokes “Les Yeux du Ciel”, a monumental work of Land Art that Antoine Grumbach created on the ECT site in Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin.
ECT's Villeneuve-sous Dammartin site, the green side
Gil Fornet’s photos invite you to discover the ECT site in Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin, under a summer sun. Part of the site has already been redeveloped with 4.5 ha of orchards and beehives, which are home to over 80,000 bees in high season. A bucolic summer stroll through France’s largest inert soil reclamation site.
Official launch of "Les Yeux du Ciel", a work of land art
On a snowy day, January 25, 2019, Madame AbovillierPrefect of Seine-et-Marne, officially launches the “Les Yeux du Ciel” cultural and environmental project. The project is the subject of a development agreement between ECT, the communes of Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin, Le Mesnil-Amelot, the Roissy-Pays-de-France Communauté de communes and the Préfecture de Région Ile-de-France.
The Eyes of Heaven project, a work by A. Grumbach
Antoine Grumbach’s Land Art work represents 2 eyes, each 400 meters long. “Les Yeux du Ciel” are drawn and modeled on the ground at ECT’s Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin site. As a result, 70 million passengers will be able to discover this work of “aerial art” during take-offs and landings from Roissy CDG airport. The ECT site covers an area of 130 hectares and is 30 m high. ECT used all the excavated soil that makes up the site. The site offers an absolutely original space for this monumental work.
More precisely, as A. Grumbach, its creator: “the eye is designed with 3 rows of trees, for a total of almost 1,200 trees. To this must be added the 12,000 m² of embankments planted around it. At the center of one eye, there will be a plant maze and a belvedere, while the second iris will house an exhibition space”.
