The county council, accompanied by all the teams and companies that took part in the projects, inaugurated the extension of the Victor Hugo park and the new Berthelot college sports ground in Le Mans. Infrastructures that revitalize the district and bring a lot of greenery to this former administrative city.
A long-awaited sports ground
Berthelot college students were able to access the new infrastructure in the fall of 2021. “The Berthelot college is an old college, it is very beautiful but very old, the students were doing sports in the yard with classes in the corridor so it was complicated, explains Véronique Charles, the principal assistant of the establishment. Indeed, the Berthelot high school is a former boarding school for young girls inaugurated in 1907.
The principal is delighted to finally see her students let off steam on the new ground. “In the yard, it’s tar, here we are on more pleasant ground, with beautiful marks on the ground, it’s real sport”she smiles.
Doing sports in a protected environment surrounded by greenery was the will of Michaël Ripoche, the landscape architect of the company Arts des cités et des champs, in charge of this project. “We did several small basketball courts, handball courts and bleachers so that the pupils listen to the teacher or when it is in free access, so that the families watch their children playhe says. Field we placed it inside the park so that it is soothing but also when the balls leave the field, they do not end up on the street thanks to the old grids that we have installed, which is also a fairly strong source of danger.
Outside of college hours, the sports area has recently been accessible to everyone during weekends, holidays and public holidays.
Parc Victor Hugo thinks big
“At the start, the order was rather directed towards a car parksays Michaël Ripoche so we talked a lot with the elected officials and they were quite easily convinced because they were aware of the quality of this site.”
This old English-style park has been restored, the existing vegetation has, in part, been preserved. “You should know that before there was in this space the building of the administrative city and the car parks so we went from a completely mineral space to a completely vegetal space”explains the landscaper. It was necessary to bring back 1,500 m3 of earth to find a real garden. “This land is from topsoil is _from the site of the RD 357 overtaking slots_, says the president of the departmental council, Dominique Le Méner. Here, nothing is lost, we recover everything”he quips.
Regarding the plantations, wild species in the park have been conserved for the rusticity of the site, but the gardeners and landscapers have added ornamental species to rediscover the spirit of the 19th century park. “We have a few collection trees including a white oak, which has a very central place in the park”shows Michaël Ripoche at the entrance to the green space.
In a few numbers
- 4,500 m2 renovated, including the sports area, the car park, the future Historial des Guerres in Sarthe
- 2,200 m2 devoted to the extension of the Victor Hugo park
- 1,500 m3 of topsoil from the site of the RD 357 overtaking slots
- 700 shrubs
- 1,200 m2 of lawn
- 2.6 million euros of financing