Since 2009, and as part of its urban project of reclaiming its centrality, the City of Cahors has put the energy improvement of old buildings at the heart of its system, to improve the quality of living and allow the return of families in the city.

Various specialized studies and a 3rd cycle thesis conducted in Cahors make it possible to measure:

• The unexploited energy capacities of old buildings (before 1948) based on the construction techniques and the materials used,
• The capacity of eco-renovation techniques to improve the energy performance of buildings, while preserving their heritage value,
• The existence of a performance balance between energy improvement, summer comfort and the durability of buildings.

It is therefore around these objectives that the ENERPAT project (contraction ENERgy-PATrimony) was created in Cahors, to stimulate research, innovation and economic development.

The Urban Community of Greater Cahors, competent in universities and economic development, took charge of the deployment of this sector by:

• Control of the ongoing European consortium ENERPAT-SUDOE, with the cities of PORTO, VITORIA GASTEIZ and CAHORS, each of which constructs a building demonstrating these eco-renovation techniques, to measure its performance as well as the evaluation of users,
• Application submitted to the “Innovative Territories” Investment Program of the Future as part of the MACEO Massif Central consortium,
• Deployment on the Occitania Region of a centre of competence and reference of Cahors in terms of the Recovering of Old Centres and the Energetic Improvement of old buildings…

In Cahors, the urban centrality recovering project committed under the title of “Cœur d’Agglo”, has recently been supplemented by the “Action Cœur de Ville” and, more recently, by the selection for a call for proposals launched by the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion, “Ré inventions nos Cœurs de Ville”. The project is operational thanks to:

• Demonstrator building ENERPAT-SUDOE,
• The OPAH-RU and the heritage renovation of several hundred housing units,
• The renovation of public buildings such as the University Centre Maurice-FAURE and the Henri-Martin Museum,
• Urban and heritage redevelopment project of the Palace of Via selected under “Re inventions nos Cœurs de Ville”.

ENERPAT is an instrument of innovation, a field of experimentation and an operational tool at the service of the three-fold research / higher education / value creation. A real local development sector, ENERPAT is thought of as a factor of local specialization replicable to fit other programs. It is an additional added value to the cadurcien urban project that, for nearly 10 years and as a pioneer, awards the city by its own reconstruction. An example on how to embrace the new urban paradigm for the renewal of cities.

Mairie de Cahors
73 Boulevard Léon Gambetta, 46000 Cahors
Tél. : 05 65 20 87 87
https://cahorsagglo.fr/