Founded in 1101 by the preacher Robert d'Arbrissel, Fontevraud was first a monastic city run by abbesses before becoming a penal city under Napoleon I, from which the last prisoner was released in 1983.
While no building had been built for a century on the site classified as a Historic Monument in 1840, the Abbey has just acquired an energy hub. The 2,000 m2 building represents the first major step in the "Fontevraud cité durable" program. Dedicated to renewable energies, the hub houses two 500 kW wood boilers (i.e. the needs of 500 houses of 4 people) and is equipped with 92 photovoltaic panels: enough to ensure the production of domestic hot water and heating for the entire city.
The building will also concentrate part of the services shared by the Abbey and the new hotel and catering center (technical premises, offices, wine cellar, waste storage and recovery area, etc.), currently under renovation. Entirely financed by the Pays de la Loire region, the project cost 6 million euros.
Comfort and protection of the building
"We were heated with fuel oil, which cost us an arm and a leg," explains Jacques Auxiette, president of the Pays de la Loire region and president of the Fontevraud - Centre Culturel de l'Ouest association. The quality of comfort inside the heritage site was very limited." The replacement of the two 50,000-litre fuel oil tanks and electric radiators, supplemented by insulation work, will halve the site's energy consumption and reduce the site's greenhouse gas emissions by tenfold. "Beyond the comfort of visitors and employees of the site, it is the very protection of the monument that is at stake," continues the president. Because without adequate air conditioning, it is impossible to hold permanent exhibitions within the tuffeau walls of the city. David Martin, director of Fontevraud Abbey, is convinced that "the historical and architectural heritage can be preserved while remaining modern." We have just demonstrated that it is not insulting to install photovoltaic panels within the grounds of a historic monument."
Landscape integration
Partially buried, the pole is located on the site of the prison's former spinning mill, at the chevet of the abbey church. "We had to gut the hill and remove 10,000 m3 of rubble," explains David Martin. Its roof, entirely planted with vegetation, will serve as an outdoor stage for shows and concerts. The landscape integration of the energy pole, which represented one of the main issues of the project, is a success. With its portholes opening onto the boiler room in operation and its educational room, it is now an integral part of the tour circuit of the abbey.