Le Balcon

A large 700-metre long promenade along the railway tracks with a view of La Défense, the balcony will welcome pedestrians and cyclists in an atmosphere of trees and plants.

The Balcony is laid out in continuity with the promenade of the Jardin des Rails (same floor covering, common species), and becomes increasingly planted with trees and vegetation as it approaches the Jardin de la Gare. Steps will provide seating along the way.

The upper part is organised around 3 areas:

• A promenade area for soft mobility and uses related to the future housing lots,
• A space of planted areas, alternating strips and tree alcoves,
• A space of terraces to rest and settle down: the stepped edge invites you to take a break between two planted areas.

The trees form alignments (hazelnut, maple, cherry). The vegetation is used to cut the wind and create shade.

An ecological corridor

The lower part of the Balcon des Groues is not accessible to the public, and is designed to constitute a space for biodiversity, an ecological corridor along the railway line.
This part houses a vegetated ditch that recovers rainwater from the public space, a gabion wall (a dry stone environment) suitable for spaces such as the wall lizard, the wagtail, the titmouse, the sparrow, the pipistrelle and odonates. Numerous bird nesting boxes will be installed and the wall will be vegetated.

Key figures

• Height of the high wall varies between 4.30 metres and 6.10 metres,
• 6 sections built by Paris La Défense, 3 sections built by third party contractors (Eole, SGP, Telamon and Panhard),
• High wall parallel to the low wall with a constant width of the ditch: 3.9 metres,
• The width of the upper walkway varies between 7 and 12 metres (excluding steps and lower walkway).