REVIT Heritage Report.pdf

Torfaen County Borough Council
REVIT: A Review of the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Assets on Brownfield Sites
4.4.17 The site includes three former furnaces dating from 1930s and 60s and a
number of steel gantries. Today, along with Guillouard building, the foundries
and the reverbatory furnaces retain some of the few traces of industrial activity
in this part of the island.
4.4.18 Initially, the foundry had been proposed for demolition. However, the national
heritage bureau, DRAC, recommended conserving and retaining the three
furnaces and workshops. Proposals for the re-use of the structures have
included converting it to a sheltered garden.
4.4.19 The shipyards of the island with their rich industrial heritage will become public
spaces along the Loire with tourist attractions, leisure uses and cultural
functions. The aim is to regenerate and revitalise the historic shipyard area by
developing new dwellings, offices and businesses with enhanced public
spaces. The main elements of the industrial heritage will be conserved within
the development of a new district with a capacity of 36,000 m 2 .
4.4.20 The former Nantes shipyards covered three principal sites:
• Les Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire (ACL) (workshops and shipyards of
the Loire) dating from 1881;
• Les Chantiers Dubigeon (Dubigeon shipyard), dating from the 18 th century
but primarily from 1914; and
• Les Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne (ACB) (workshops and shipyards of
Brittany) dating from 1895.
4.4.21 The last ship was launched from the Nantes shipyards in 1986 and the
workshops are now closed or converted to other uses. At the historic
Dubigeon shipyard the three large industrial workshops and the Titan Crane,
which dates from 1956, have been retained as a central part of the site.
4.4.22 These spaces will be used for a range of temporary and permanent public
cultural events with aim of increasing the number of visitors. Part of the
Dubigeon site is used by the University of Nantes.
4.4.23 The historic slipways were the main elements of the site used for boat building
and consisted of:
• Slipway No. 1 for submarines;
• Slipway No. 2 for part of ACL 1914 to 1918 boats; and
• Slipway No. 3 which will be restored and re-used.
4.4.24 The area around the submarine slipways has been designated for shipbuilding
and repair, in order to maintain the character and function of the site with
submarine slipways used for public events.
4.4.25 The surviving docks are used for the construction and restoration of small
boats in order to retain the original use of the harbour. In addition, a further
two further wet docks have been proposed, one on the east of the island and
the other, directed towards the Atlantic, on the west.
4.4.26 Other industrial features, like the quaysides, will be renewed and breakwaters
around the area will be lowered to improve vistas. A series of pontoons with
moorings will be established to revitalise the port function and use of the river.
4.4.27 Work started in 2002 on the François-Mitterrand quay by providing a space for
approximately 13,000 m 2 residential buildings with the establishment of the
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