7 April 2017
Artist's impression : DPA Architecture / Studio Explore
One year and one day ahead of Longchamp racecourse opening, on April 8th, 2018, Longchamp racecourse received a new name: "ParisLongchamp ", as the racing press visited the construction site of what is to become the most modern major racecourse in Europe with France Galop president Edouard de Rothschild.
Friday, April 7, 2017, Longchamp Racecourse (Paris). - First of all, a few facts about the new Longchamp racecourse and the construction site...
- 14 500m3 of concrete, 550 tons of steel, 50km of technical wiring and the work of up to 700 people on the site will have been necessary for the project of architect Perrault designated by France Galop to stand on the ground.
- 150 planted trees, 90 more in total than on the previous site, and more lawns will make the space greener and shaded than in the latest version, thus returning to an envirnement closer to the original Longchamp. Important work was done to organize the flows from one end of the racetrack to the other and on the five floors of the stands.
- The public will be divided among the first three floors, the horsemen and owners on the third, and the VIPs on the top floor, where the panorama restaurant will take place with its 250 seats (public access), doubled with the terrace overlooking on the old stands side.
- The watering of the tracks has been differentiated to allow a better selectivity according to the activity, and the drainage between the false straight line and the elbow leading to the last stretch has been redone.
- The paddock was moved slightly 25 meters to the north, the horses now leaving to or coming from the track at the end of it.
- The number of boxes was increased from 80 to 116, and a third pre-parade ring added nearby the new veterinary boxes, on the actual paddock side.
- Around 50 boxes with 4 to 6 seats are located on the 3rd floor, 16 suites of 30 to 40m2 are on the top floor, that of the panorama restaurant and the Panorama terrace installed on the Moulin side, facing the finish line.
At the end of the visit, Olivier Delloye, Managing Director of France Galop, said: " The building is to be delivered in early November. Then we will have a lot more to do for the opening, including the technical equipment of the site. The new Longchamp is both a huge opportunity because you do not often have the chance to experience the creation of a brand new course. Obviously, Longchamp has existed for a long time, but we are now talking about a completely different site. It is an opportunity but also an obligation to succeed. ParisLongchamp will be a success if it attracts more racegoers and moreover new audiences: young people, families, young Parisian executives who will come from the nearby La Défense to enjoy the show and maybe come back to learn more, get to know our world and, why not, become new owners. Our audience must fell ParisLongchamp is not just about beautiful galleries and a beautiful work of art. They must see a real difference in what is offered to them, in their experience. It will also show our ability to develop more revenue around our core business, which is horseracing. We must seize that opportunity to make our great events more appealing and monetize them. Finally, to make Longchamp successful, it will be necessary to set up a model of exploitation that will also apply to our other racecourses, because they must in turn benefit from what can be done here. ParisLongchamp will be a very structuring flagship for our whole institution."
Pictures of the construction site and artist's impressions of ParisLongchamp available for viewing and downloading here.