Principal
Investments
Investment policy –2010 report
Modernization a step further
Whether a latest-generation warehouse in the Euro-Delta business park, a new poultry pavilion, renovated toll booths, optimized parking lots, new premises in the flower pavilion or temperature-controlled basement units for fruit and vegetable retailers, Rungis Market benefited from every kind of investment in 2010.
2010 saw the outcome of two major investment operations led by SEMMARIS. The DE1 warehouse was delivered on 30 December, marking completion of the fourth and last building of the Euro-Delta park. After starting the works in April, SEMMARIS spent 8.4 million euros on this 7,000 square metre warehouse, divided into two cells, with the addition of another 1, 500 square metres of offices spread over two floors. After some works on fixtures and fitting undertaken by SEMMARIS (partitions, refrigeration, etc.), the building is ready for its unique client, the Belgian Univeg Group, which is using the building to house order preparation, a ripening depot for fruit (bananas, pears) and the head office of its French subsidiary. The works had to adapt to the specific constraints of this plot of land, crossed by very high voltage lines supplying Paris in electricity (a safety gap of seven metres had to be respected); and yet the main warehouse is the tallest on the site, with a twelve-metre high free space inside. Moreover, it also comes with fifteen dock levellers and it is naturally protected against fire by a sprinkler system.
A new nest for the poultry wholesalers
In December, the tenants moving to the new poultry pavilion, the VG1, began work on fixtures and fittings while the building was in the finishing stages. One of the challenges of this building project was the need to keep the temperature at three degrees during the sale, in order to preserve the fragile products with a short shelf-life under the best conditions. Besides the required cold production, the builders had to ensure that all doors and windows were air-tight. Finally, 18 million euros were spent on this building of almost 16,000 square metres, with 1,800 square metres assigned to the sales area and buyers’ walk, 3,500 square metres for stores, 3,200 square metres for handling operations and 2,400 square metres for offices. Adjacent to the pavilion, the VG2 platform was made available to its operator to equip a temperature-controlled logistics hub of 2,400 square metres, plus 600 square metres of offices. SEMMARIS spent 3.8 million euros on it.
The toll booth : first contact with the Market
Although less expensive, the works done on the entrance toll booths are no less important. They effectively represent customers and employees’ first contact with the Market so the renovation, which was technically necessary, also aimed to improve their welcoming function. So after redoing the main toll booth the previous year, the renovation of a second one was successfully completed with a budget of 780,000 euros, primarily involving a new framework and sloping roof. The new truck washing station which works begun in 2009 opened in January 2010. It is managed by Frigowash (Petit Forestier Group), and it cleans vans and heavy goods vehicles in compliance with the health and environmental regulations (75% of wastewater is recycled by filtration).
Similarly, a third toll booth (located off the fish market) was moved to free up a space dedicated to the station of the future T7 tramway. Four million euros were invested in these works, with 700,000 euros for the new toll booth, while rest was devoted to road works to adapt the road system. In 2010 SEMMARIS examined ways to optimize the way through the Market’s toll booths. It commissioned a study of existing technologies and the possibility of upgrading buyer card functions.
New parking lots
The Market’s first covered parking lot was built in the horticulture and decoration sector in the last quarter. It is expressly reserved for buyers, who can park their vehicle on the 4,000 square metres, so that their vehicle and load are protected from bad weather (rain, snow) and sunlight too, particularly bad for flowers. The capacity was increased by 50 spaces, to a total of 168 for florist vans mainly, and some spaces are reserved for the disabled and motorcycles. An awning links the C1 pavilion to the shelter and a drainage pipe was built to regulate and treat rainwater runoff. This investment cost 1.1 million euros.
Another fundamental aspect of Rungis Market’s layout is the available parking facilities. It has 17,400 parking spaces, 3,000 of which are marked in green and reserved for buyers. As the Val-de-Marne general council started works on the Chevilly-Larue road, six parking lots located alongside it were rebuilt. These works developed an area that was not optimized; 1.7 million euros were invested in this operation. On 25,000 square metres, 1,000 parking spaces have been built. The ground markings were improved and controlled access has been added to three of the parking lots where 170 spaces have been rented to companies. The security has also been improved by installing fencing and gates and a dozen video surveillance cameras.
New wholesale units and basement storage
In the flower market a third central unit has been installed in the C1 pavilion, for 800,000 euros. Following a concept already approved by operators, a sales area of 800 square metres was installed for four Market tenants, each benefiting from about 162 square metres for displaying flowers, a 40 square metres cold room and offices with toilets (30 square metres) on a mezzanine upstairs. One innovation is the new flooring, made of two-tone polished asphalt, similar in look to the existing tiling, but less slippery or fragile. Lastly, the lights are very bright with excellent colour rendering for an optimum product display. A fourth central unit like this is already scheduled.
In the fruit and vegetables sector, the west-side basement of the B3 building has been redesigned for a budget of 2.6 million euros. The objective was to install 18 temperature-controlled storage units of 100 square metres each on 3,000 square metres, grouped around a wide alley for traffic accessible to vans up to three metres high. Equipped to be “ready-to-use” with short term leases, they can be rented by buyers, usually fruit and vegetable merchants on retail markets who need temporary storage when buying in the context of their activity. Inspired by the principle of “self-storage”, each of these units has an office and toilet. A centralized cold production system has been installed to guarantee temperatures of 0 to 15 degrees.
Makeover for Rungis Accueil
Finally, in the context of a reflection jointly run by the Marketing Department as part of the “Welcome to Rungis!” programme, in 2011 the Investment Department will tackle the signposting for Rungis Accueil and the SEMMARIS information offices, in order to harmonize and better identify these areas dedicated to welcoming and informing Market clients and tenants. The signposting will take the form of a large red totem pole at all the places concerned, to make it easier to identify.
