Launch of the Villa Prés-Mignons rehabilitation project

The La Villa des Prés-Mignons association celebrated its first anniversary on Saturday, February 3, 2024. But the ten neighborhood residents present did not extinguish the candle to celebrate the association's first milestone – the rehabilitation of an old building abandoned in Belgwane since 1984.

However, a stack of pancakes made a midday snack possible. The rest of Memorial Day focused on the construction site inside the house. After a year and a half of thinkingResidents took over the place to launch this crazy project in concrete form. The project began in January, with one session every two weeks.

Three-trailer trailer for glass waste disposal

At each meeting, there are up to 20 people active in the old building. The bulk of the work consists of emptying the villa of its waste. “We already filled the skip at the beginning of January, and there is still some left.”“, notes Gilles Tillet, president of the association. For good reason, the floor of the villa is full of rubble. Cyril Boutin, responsible for the works committee, launches a hypothesis about the origin of the waste. “The villa has been fenced off several times. This rubble is the remains of these walls.”

There is also a lot of wood remains. Several floors collapsed over time. “We also collected hundreds of bottles that were stored in the basement.”Volunteer monitoring. It took three cycles to dispose of the glass waste.

Therefore, unpacking the villa is not an easy task. Especially since the building is still very dangerous. At the same time, the residents are working to secure it, specifically the central staircase. Several scraps of wood were provided to enable reinforcement of the staircase and certain floors.

More than 100 members

This cleanup will allow volunteers to better see the structure of the building. This is essential data for determining the procedure to be followed on this website. “We'll take our time warns Gilles Tillet. 2024 will be necessary to find partnerships with professionals to help us implement the project. »

Significant fundraising work will also be needed. This does not frighten the association's 104 members. “There are only positives in this project.”They notice. As evidence of this, suspicions of rot in the building were refuted. Only bats can be observed. Something to entertain the locals: “We have roommates!” »