Lens (62)
170 Avenue Alfred Van Pelt
62300 Lens
GPS coordinates :
50.432276, 2.845321
Planting an urban forest on brownfield land
Types of layout
Nature area, reforestation
Issues :
Renaturation
Green in the city
Status:
Landscaping completed
Project presentation
This project, led by the EPF Hauts-de-France, also involves the town 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. The EPF designed this forest with a multidimensional approach: ecological, landscape, sensory, well-being and educational. ECT is building it.
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
The shooting of the film, entitled "Eco vision : let's film the urban forest of Lens, a model of renaturation of industrial wasteland".
May 2024 – ECT Hauts-de-France is taking part in the Arbre et Nature Festival, organised by the Hauts-de-France Region. In collaboration with the eco-delegates from Jean Jaurès secondary school in Lens. The student video-makers have been given the task of revealing the ecological potential of their town. Their film, entitled “Éco vision: filmons la forêt urbaine de Lens, un modèle de renaturation de friche industrielle”, was shot on Wednesday 5 June. Guillaume Lemoine answered students’ questions about the urban forest. An event that combines environmental education and urban renewal. The video will be released this summer 2024.
In Lens, an educational planting activity with schoolchildren, players in their region
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 take part in the final phase of the Avenue Van Pelt project by planting 500 trees, a tangible gesture towards a greener future. In total, 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
March 2023 – Intersol will be held in Lille on 28, 29 and 30 March. The theme of this 22nd edition is “Soil: a springboard for territorial transition”. The programme is divided into 5 sessions. On 28 March at 4pm, Guillaume Lemoine will be taking part in the session entitled “Regional planning and site conversion”. During his talk, he will present the case of the transformation of the Van Pelt site in Lens, carried out 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. As a result, it has been awarded the Euralens 2022 label by the Pôle Métropolitain de l’Artois.
A redwood tree planted in tribute to American soldiers
December 2022 – A remarkable sequoia tree has been planted on the site as a tribute to the American soldiers, heroes of the First World War. A ceremony was held on Monday 12 December in the presence of Jean-François Raffy, sub-prefect of the Lens district, Cathy Apourceau-Poly, Senator for the Pas-de-Calais, Sylvain Robert, mayor and chairman of the Lens-Liévin Urban Community and Julien Golaszewsky, director of the ECT Hauts-de France agency.
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 brownfield site. Renaturation and planting 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 in 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 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, organised by Lens town council and EPF Hauts-de-France. The event is a symbol of the ongoing transformation of this wasteland into an urban forest.
3 questions to the project owner, EPF Hauts-de-France
Guillaume Lemoine, Head of Development and Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering Coordinator 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 the contribution of excavated earth, but also involves multiple recycling actions.
3 main recycling initiatives:
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 neighbouring site as a “nursery” for the urban forest: trees and shrubs have been removed and replanted on the site of the future urban forest.
Recycling to promote biodiversity: abandoned nozzles have been reused as cavities for hibernating bats. Sand brought in from the old racks at the nearby waste disposal centre will provide micro-habitats for psammophilous wild bees and other sand-loving insects.
