Arboretum Nanterre La Défense, a wooden office complex in Paris that is the largest of its kind in Europe, was inaugurated by French President Emmanuel Macron on 19 September.

The €560 million asset, developed by WO2 and BNP Paribas Real Estate, is located on the outskirts of the central business district La Défense. It has been built on the former site of a paper mill in the Nanterre area of the French capital, on the edge of a picturesque park on the banks of the Seine river.

Spanning some 126,000 square metres (1.4 million square feet), the complex has been constructed using 32,400 cubic metres of wood and 8,000 square metres (86,000 square feet) of glued laminated timber. 80 percent of the office development’s heating and cooling systems will be powered by 10 geothermal wells. Each floor includes a large terrace and 3.1 metre-high ceilings and the office buildings all have external staircases. The area also has a large outdoor space, a watercourse, arboretum,