Municipal spaces in the center of Saint-Raphaël: the project is taking shape

A year ago, we mentioned in our columns the desire of the City of Saint-Raphaël to carry out an ambitious two-pronged project, in order to contribute to the dynamism of the city center of Saint-Raphaël and with the idea of ​​providing additional services to local residents. This was done by finally renovating the building on Boulevard d'Alsace, just after the Cultural Center, which formerly housed the HSBC bank.

Since then, administrative steps have been completed – submission and validation of the building permit, appeals phase completed, approval by elected officials in the municipal council, application for subsidies, call for tenders, agreement from the ARS (1), etc. And at the beginning of the month, the preliminary work of the surveyors began, as well as the asbestos removal inside the building before it was demolished. "In parallel with the administrative process, other municipal services such as the CTM (2) have been working hard to prepare the building's rehabilitation site," explains Françoise Buisson, in charge of setting up the two projects and head of the autonomy division within the CCAS (3). After the preliminary stage of asbestos removal, which should be completed by the end of this month, it will then take around five weeks to set up the various companies that will carry out the work, after the tender committee has appointed them. The main work – demolition, rehabilitation, reconstruction, etc. – should therefore begin at the end of the year, or at the very beginning of 2026." For delivery that can be estimated at the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027.

As stated from the beginning, this space will be a bit like the CCAS's showcase: a reception and information space for seniors, but not only for them. For their families too.

"It won't be an annex of the CCAS, it will truly be a new place of reception, advice, guidance, and activities where things will happen regularly! It will become a real living space," explains Françoise Buisson. "Every resident of Raphaël will be able to enter easily, chat and exchange with agents, and also create social links between residents. There will be documentation (magazines, magazines, information sheets) and computers for research, in the spirit of a small media library."

The idea is to "deinstitutionalize" information points, thus facilitating exchanges. And to better publicize all the services provided by the city. It's true that the services available to the population are sometimes misunderstood.