Do you know the story of the Grands Moulins de Pantin ?

Explanation
After three years of work, the Grands Moulins de Pantin were inaugurated on 21 October 2009.
This is the most important site in the period after the construction of the Millau Viaduct.
Conferred by the firm of architects Reichen and Robert & Associés, the conversion of the Grands Moulins reflects an architecture that harmoniously combines history, modernity and respect for the environment (HQE standards).
Made possible by the joint actions of Philippe Zivkovic, President of BNP Paribas Real Estate, the Mayor of Pantin Bertrand Kern, and Groupe Souflet, owner of the site, the project aimed to preserve traces of the building’s industrial past.
This is why the new set of offices shows the Skyline of old buildings.

Explanation
Haussmann built the first “Grand Paris” in 1860 at Napoleon III’s request.
Many neighbouring towns are thus absorbed and Pantin is then located on the Paris-Strasbourg line.
This allows it to develop its economy and trade quickly.

Explanation
Drawing on his experience as a mill worker, Abel Stanislas Leblanc acquired the land of the future Grands Moulins de Pantin on 5 April 1880 and decided to build his first mill there.
The terrain is strategically located to develop its activity, between the Ourcq canal and the railways.
This acquisition also paved the way for the modernization of the mill.

Explanation
After the 1878 World's fair, Abel Stanislas Legrand chose and developed the millstone technique against the advice of Hungarians who preferred the cylinder technique (generating more white flour, according to his followers).
When Abel Stanislas Legrand died in 1886, the company was not competitive enough, and his heirs decided to invest in the cylinders.

Explanation
Only three years after the installation of the cylinders on 23 September 1889, a fire destroyed almost the entire mill.
Firefighters can only save the store.
It was then the Germans who, on the night of 19-20 August 1944, used a mine-laden barge, moored at the foot of the mills, as an incendiary fuse causing many of the damage to the site.

Explanation
The new owners of the “Grands Moulins de Pantin-Paris”, the Great Mills of Strasbourg, have not only changed the site’s name.
As early as 1923, a new mill based on the architecture of Vosges houses was built.
It consists of a fire-retardant reinforced concrete structure and a blonde brick masonry in the north.
Windows are pierced to bring light and lanterns create the air.

Explanation
Steam engines were replaced by a 2600 kw thermal power station between 1923 and 1926.
This double boiler is made up of coal silos and becomes the symbol of the introduction of electricity into the French flour mill.

Explanation
The innovation drive of the Grands Moulins is not limited to the exploitation system and the development of its production.
Indeed, as early as 1957, and because 50% of its trade was with local bakers, the company decided to launch bulk deliveries by optimising the types of transport.
Trucks are segmented into cells, each dedicated to a customer.
On the other hand, the large carriers of 250 quintals enable manufacturers to be supplied.

Explanation
Although the Grands Moulins have regularly adapted to market developments and challenges, by drastically reducing the workforce in the 1970s by closing the semolerie in 1985 and then creating the Baguepi sign in 1990 to counter the competitor Banette, the company is fragile.
Its takeover by the Soufflet group in 1994 could not prevent production from being halted in 2001.
The site was permanently closed in 2003.

Explanation
The second life of the Grands Moulins began with the installation of the headquarters of the asset management and custody business.
It is a 50,000 m2 office complex with more than 3,000 employees, where the past and the present meet.
The preservation of reinforced concrete, cobblestones and married rails at glass façades generates organisational ergonomics and visual comfort.