The Dieppe Sud site, located in the city of Dieppe in northern France, hosted for nearly two centuries industrial and port activities, actively contributing to the dynamism of the city and the development of its transport infrastructure. At the end of the last century, the economic recession that affected the region led to the closure of the factories, leaving an impacted site at ground level, an environmental liability of 39 hectares. Because of its strategic location, a stone’s throw from the city center, and the great potential that the sector offers to energize the territory, the Dieppe Municipality ordered, in 2013, the remediation of the site for its future development as a mixed activity pole, including new transportation infrastructure, housing, businesses, cultural facilities, offices and even an educational complex. The remediation of the site first involved a historical study to identify the areas contaminated by hydrocarbons and heavy metals, and from there an action plan was defined to clean up the land. The land with the highest levels of contamination was evacuated to a sanitary landfill, while the rest of the impacted soils, approximately 1,600 m3, were treated on the site and then used as landfill, thus limiting the impact on the environment and reducing the need to transport trucks. These soils were confined under a tarpaulin and injected with bacteria that promote hydrocarbon degradation. After a year of successful treatment, the contamination levels recorded no longer represented a risk to human health in the context of the future uses of the site. The Belgian real estate developer Wilhem and Co. is in charge of the future urban project on the 21,000 m2 site. The master plan currently envisages 44,000 m2 of buildings, including stores, housing, services and parking lots. It will offer the city of Dieppe an extension of its historic center, becoming a hub of the city, both a gateway and a connection point with its surroundings, thanks to a multimodal transport infrastructure: by land, rail and sea. The project is also expected to rebalance vehicular traffic flows in and out of the city of Dieppe.
