La Maison des Étudiants (Student Centre) is being built at Arkinova

The cornerstone of the building, which is dedicated to users at the Arkinova Technology Park site in Anglet, was laid on 12 July 2019. The “Maison des Étudiants” will be operational in early 2020.

The building works for the two-storey building, equipped with photovoltaic panels, began last January and will be completed in early 2020. The 1,200 m² ground floor will accommodate a Bicycle Area comprising a parking area and a repair shop, a place to eat, premises for associations, a FabLab and premises for which the usage will be defined soon. The first floor will be dedicated to the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour’s (UPPA) sports and cultural activities. The building will also house an enclosed parking area (from the ground floor to the second floor on the north-facing side) with 345 parking places for cars and 30 for motorcycles. 

The construction is part of the “Heart of the Campus” scheme at the Arkinova Technology Park site in Anglet. Two other structures will be built in addition to the Student Centre: the ISALAB building which will house ISA BTP school’s training and research facility and Agora which will provide a vast public space intended to foster meetings and discussion between the Technology Park’s many users.

The global cost of the “Heart of the Campus” scheme adds up to €20 million, of which €6 million for the Student Centre, €12 million for ISALAB and €2 million for Agora. The project is funded by the Basque Country Urban Authority (€5.25 million), the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Authority  (€6.25 million), the State (€3 million), the European ERDF Fund (€5 million) and Anglet Municipal Council (€500,000). The goal of the “Heart of the Campus” scheme is to structure the Arkinova site to create a centre of excellence and a reference in terms of construction and sustainable urbanisation.