The shopping and leisure center Docks Vauban is located in Havre in Seine-Maritime.
The town’s historic coffee, spice and cotton warehouses have been converted into a vibrant shopping centre, Les Docks Vauban, with a mix of boutiques, restaurants and entertainment options.
Docks Vauban in Le Havre (54,500 m2) is excellent example of how ambitious urban redevelopment projects can bring life back to former industrial areas. The site offered outstanding potential in terms of location, heritage, culture
and access. The new centre take full advantage of the waterfront locations, exceptional volume and traditional architecture of the original warehouse. The mall form part of larger mixed-use development which combine housing, workplaces, leisure complexe and cultural centre. This contributes to the stability and reliability of the core catchment area.
Docks Vauban hosts Le Havre’s first branches of H&M, Saturn, La Grande Récré, G Star, Quiksilver, Levi’s, Du Pareil au Même and New Yorker.
Location and accessibility
The center is within walking distance from the city center and ten minutes from the station in three minutes via the gateway on the Vauban basin located outside the station.
Getting Here:
By public transport LiA:
- Tramway lines A and B, station "Gares" (access 5 minutes via the gateway Vauban Basin).
- Bus numbers 3 and 8, stop "Docks Vauban". Lines 6 and 9, stop "stations" (5 minutes access through the gateway of the Bassin Vauban). Lines 5, stop "Colbert" (5 minutes from the dock).
From Rouen or Paris by the A13 , access is straightforward and it is not necessary to go through the city center. Many hotel car park (two parking garages) are around ponds and Vatine Vauban.
Shopper Trafic/Catchment Area
Catchment area: 300,000 people from the surrounding areas.
Shopper traffic: 5.4 million visitors annually.
Entertainment zone
ACCROSPORT, CINEMAS GAUMONT, GULLI PARC.
Features mall architecture
Emblematic of 19th century industrial architecture, the buildings here were erected in 1846 and for decades served as Europe‘s main storage site for coffee; they now house a prestigious shopping and leisure centre. Led by VINCI Immobilier and ING Real Estate on behalf of Unibail-Rodamco, the operation to transform them, at a total cost of 125 million euros, was designed by the architectural firm Reichen et Robert and implemented by VINCI Construction France, together with Eurovia and VINCI Energies. The project involved refurbishing and extending 13 huge buildings (60 metres long, 25 metres wide and 12 metres high); their brick and timber structures support roof structures in timber or steel; they are linked together by courtyards and glass-roofed passageways, laid out in a regular pattern.
The main arcades are designed to accommodate a mixture of lifestyle shopping, restaurants and market stalls following such precedents as Covent Garden, London and Faneuil Market Boston. The new interventions are contemporary in design juxtaposed with the grandeur of the historic warehouses. The south side has the main restaurant frontage overlooking the new marina.
Planning
The Vauban Docks offer a total surface area of almost 60,000 sq. metres, of which 55,000 sq. metres are devoted to retail outlets, cultural activities and sport. A “day” zone features, among other things, a vast garden centre boasting a tropical greenhouse, a hypermarket, and shops specialising in homewares, DIY or creative leisure activities, as well as particularly specialised outlets catering for the skiing and sailing fraternities. The “night” zone, for its part, offers a 12-screen multiplex cinema, a bar, restaurants, pavement cafés… There are also two new car parks, with car lifts, providing 1,094 parking spaces. Destined to become the port of Greater Paris, with this operation Le Havre has clearly demonstrated its dynamism and magnetic appeal.
Project Cost
125 million euros renovation cost.
