Clairvaux (Aube). In June 2023, the last detainees of the Central House of Clairvaux (Aube) left the premises, starting the new life of the Cistercian abbey, which was reallocated in prison at the beginning of the 19th century. In exclusive negotiation with the State since December 2023, the team composed of the engineering company Edeis and ADIM (a subsidiary of real estate promotion of the Vinci group) was to carry this cultural requalification project. But the tandem was finally thanked by a letter arrived at the end of 2024, according to daily information East lightning. The decision of the Ministry of Culture should however however be announced until March, during a steering committee. “There is a new deal, Explains in chosen terms Catherine Ferrar, project director at Edeis. The state has decided to take longer, to ensure this retraining step by step. »» The unstable political context and the announced budgetary savings weigh in the decision.
The project envisaged by Edeis was based on the principle of “a public euro for an invested private euro”, for a global envelope exceeding 200 million euros.“It is a conversion that cannot happen without public investment either than without private investment”, Estem Catherine Ferrar. However, the State as the local communities seemed to wait for another financing proposal at the end of the exclusive negotiation: “The least we can say is that you don’t feel a local breath!”notes Gérard Beureux, president of the Renaissance association of Clairvaux. The exclusive negotiation stage may also have served this cause, since it involved only a few actors. The communities were ultimately put back in the loop until presenting the note to them. »»
An economic issue
Some elected officials, however, defend the need for this conversion, such as the president of the department, Philippe Pichery, or the mayor of the neighboring town of Ville-sous-la-Ferté, Gérard Picod. For his part, François Baroin, president of Troyes Champagne Métropole (80 km from Clairvaux), proposed, in early January, to bring in prisoners in the disused central house. A response to the proposal of the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, to bring together in one place the hundred largest drug traffickers. “The promise formulated by the State in 2018 to ensure, within rapid deadlines, the heritage, economic, cultural and tourist retraining of this site had made it possible to offer a perspective to all the inhabitants”, However, recalled the same François Baroin in a letter addressed to the Keeper of the Seals taking note of the suspension of the retraining project. The central house of Clairvaux not meeting the criteria required by the Minister of Justice, the idea of the mayor of Troyes will not succeed.
There remains the territorial economic issue, for this site which was the first employer for decades. “Lens’ experience makes me say that it can only be an asset for this territory, Esimes Catherine Ferrar, who was previously administrator of the Louvre-Lens and accompanied the opening of the Pas-de-Calais museum. We have a global project, until 2037, partnerships established with important players in the territory, such as the Nigloland amusement park. »» Edeis is therefore far from abandoning his cultural project. This was revealed to the inhabitants of Ville-sous-la-Ferté in January, shortly after the breakdown of negotiations: “Clairvaux, a Grand Open Spirit” offers a national museum in the prison world, a center of interpretation on the ‘Medieval abbey, a campus devoted to artificial intelligence and a hotel and restaurant offer.
The state would now plan to cut this overall conversion into several tranches, which would be controlled in the form of a public interest group. On the side of Edeis, we mention a territory contract, “Based to unlock funding”. In the meantime, the Renaissance de Clairvaux association will continue to animate the site, with its modest means: “We are going to occupy the ground in different ways. There will be remarkable things in the next two years ”, promises its president. »»
