It is within this jewel of France's history that the Pays de Loire Region launched the ambitious project in 2010 to create a new hotel space within the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud, a place steeped in history from the Middle Ages to the present day.

​

​

At the end of 2010, the Pays de Loire Region launched a call for tenders to architects for the rehabilitation and restructuring of the Hôtellerie Saint Lazare, part of the Royal Abbey, which was successively a leper colony, sickhouse, hostelry, penitentiary establishment, then transformed in the 80s into a hotel until 2011.

The Mester de Parajd agency, Chief Architect of Historic Monuments, was therefore selected to take up the challenge on the basis of a study.

The ambitious programme, in line with the desire of the main actors of the project management to make it a major cultural and tourist site in the Saumur landscape, was defined.

Indeed, many cultural, museographic, innovative and environmental events take place in the Royal Abbey, which contributes to its influence

For example, the energy pole site completed in September 2012, the program and project of which was established by the Mester de Parajd Agency, Assistant to the Project Owner on this operation and designer of the project, and which delegated the Project Management.

This project to create an underground wood boiler room, opposite the apse of the abbey church in the strictest respect of the Historic Monument, is both a technical and architectural performance, which is an integral part of the visit circuit.

​

This project has received numerous awards for its innovation and boldness in such a place.

The program of the hotel project, associated with the energy pole, being its means of heating, located in the former Hôtellerie Saint Lazare is therefore based on three main axes:

1/ A top-of-the-range restaurant area

2/ A seminar reception area

3/ A high-end hotel with 54 rooms

High technology, energy performance, as well as accessibility to the greatest number of people in terms of disability, were the challenges of the alliance of past history and the writing of that of the future. To continue the life of the monument with strength and respect.

Preparatory phase

The Mester de Parajd agency worked to propose a project corresponding to the various expectations of the Client, with the approval of the Historic Monuments Commission. The different stages of the studies followed one another from the beginning of 2011. Shortly before the launch of the Call for Tenders, in June 2012, the Jouin Manku agency, a well-known Parisian designer, was selected by the Pays de Loire region to provide the interior design line for the place as Assistant to the Project Owner

At this point in the project, a real teamwork between the Mester de Parajd agency and the Jouin Manku agency is committed to achieving the result expected by the client.

The call for tenders was launched in August 2012, 17 companies were selected on several criteria, the main one being that of Historic Monument certification

The Mester de Parajd agency was therefore committed to the management of these 17 companies, from November 2011, during the 19 months of work.

(structural work, finishing work, technical lots, landscaping, covered enclosures, framework)

In December 2012, the Pays de Loire Region launched a call for tenders to select the companies for the furniture lot, under the project management of the SLA agency, three companies were selected, which began working in collaboration with the 15 companies of the real estate lot in February 2012.

The construction site, the main stages

Spectacular demolition for the redevelopment of floors and interior levelsDemolition of the current kitchenRestoration of the ashlar partsArchaeological excavationsKilometres of trenches for the passage of networksConstruction of new floors with technical prowess of maintaining the existing buildingInterior design based on the old grids of the buildingReplacement of all the joinery with thermally lined joinery with blown colonial glazing St GobainRestoration of the historic levels of the cloister and the chapelCreation of stained glass windowsRedevelopment of the old dormitory, Salle de la Bourdonnaye, on a half-timbered structure and hemp plasterRestoration of dressed stone facingRestitution of buttressesIntegration of all the techniques and networks without distorting the monumentRestoration and redevelopment of the Angers slate roofLandscaping according to historical plans

It goes without saying that difficulties inherent in such a project, and inevitable, have arisen.

Some amusing anecdotes:

- the fortuitous discovery of an underground room not shown on any plan, which became the wine cellar of the restaurant's kitchen.

- the accidental drilling of an underground gallery, the city's former sewer network dating from the seventeenth century

- the birth of a family of "soulcie sparrows", a species protected at the Ryale Abbey and which has obtained the "LPO" label from Alain Bougrain Dubourg for this. Indeed, during the construction site, once the cloister reopened, they found refuge on one of the cornices of the cloister.

The work was carried out during a harsh winter, in sometimes very difficult conditions.

Numerous companions, sometimes with a staff of up to 80 people per day divided by area, coordinated their interventions, under the direction of the Project Management (the Mester de Parajd firm and the pilot, the Gousset firm).

It was only once the building was ready to receive the furniture, in April 2014, that the layout package led by SLA equipped the restored, restructured and rehabilitated premises in terms of the functions of the program and the requirements of the interior decoration.

The project was delivered not without difficulty but successfully on May 28, 2014 to host the "Global Conference - International Forum for Sustainable Development", a famous and politically influential international event.

Conclusion

The technical performance, the attention to detail, the finesse of the execution, the respect for the monument, animated the management of the site as well as all these stakeholders in a real teamwork. The right state of mind, responsiveness and enthusiasm were there.

The enriching combination of the know-how of specialists in the historical monuments sector, design architects, (the GMDP agency and its team), and interior decoration design, (the Jouin Manku agency), the quality of the companies chosen, have resulted in this sublime result that lives up to the projected ambitions

Project Owner:

Région des Pays-de-la-Loire

Project Management: