New Build in France: Savvy in the Savoie

With eco-awarenesss at an all-time high and reports of global warming hitting the press daily, the tenacity of ski resorts has naturally been called into question. To this end, the developers, town planners and offices de tourisme of the French Alps are working together to build a more sustainable future for their beautiful, and highly valuable, ski resorts.

The Savoie is already at a distinct advantage; with some of the highest ski resorts in the Alps – over 3,000m above sea level in some instances – it is firmly lodged in the snow-sure category and, not only does its Paradiski area (formed from the merger of Les Arcs and La Plagne) boast the highest number of winter-sports resorts in the world, it also advertises a ski season that can stretch from September to May thanks to the glacier at Tignes. But altitude is not the only trick up Savoie’s sleeve. The area also benefits from a Eurostar link, delivering passengers directly to Bourg-St-Maurice, a town nestled at the heart of the Tarentaise valley, from London St Pancras – an important boon at a time when air travel is becoming increasingly vilified by the green camp and check-in times and additional costs are spiralling out of control.

If that wasn’t enough, the area also benefits from a particularly forwardthinking approach to development – both on the part of the developers engaging in building work in the area, but also on the part of the offices de tourisme, who are doing their level best to encourage year-round use of their facilities and boost visitor numbers during the quieter summer months. As David Giraud, chairman and CEO of Groupe MGM, one of the principal developers in the area, recognises: “Our strategy is now to become a partner with the resorts and promote the development of both infrastructure and amenities. It’s essential that developers invest in facilities that are open all year round.We must accept that France has competitors and so work at attracting a wider demographic by constantly innovating. Today we want to be part of a community that is working together to build up a sustainable tourism trade.”

Town planning

This is not an attitude that is lost on Eric Adamkiewicz, the dynamic director of the office de tourisme at Bourg-St-Maurice. His progressive approach to development is set to revolutionise the Tarentaise Valley, even if the other Paradiski resorts are yet to realise that in order to grow, they must pull together.

“Bourg-St-Maurice is a small town with great potential,” explains Adamkiewicz. “It is the only town in the area with international rail and a funicular link to the ski resorts. It could be the next Chamonix.”

Walking around the sleepy, virtually deserted town at lunchtime on market day, this may seem a long way off, but Adamkiewicz’s enthusiasm is infectious, especially when listening to the myriad of schemes and suggestions that are being cooked up to inject some much-needed life and cash into the town.

For a start MGM is planning two luxury developments in Bourg-St-Maurice. The first, Le Coeur d’Or will be a three-star leaseback development of 45 contemporary apartments. The residence hoteliere is just a ten-minute walk from the town centre and will offer a selection of apartments from studios to four-beds. Prices range from €151,000 for 37m2 to €441,000 for a fourbedroom, two-bathroom duplex apartment.

This development will also benefit from MGM’s investment in the town itself – a bowling alley, cinema, brasserie and shopping complex to be built alongside Le Coeur d’Or.

The second building project, Le Grand Coeur, is a central development of one- to four-bed apartments available for outright purchase. The building will be finished in the traditional style and set in landscaped gardens, with most of the 63 apartments boasting a balcony or terrace with mountain views. Each apartment also has access to cellar storage and parking. The new apartments will be available for occupation in December 2008 and completion is due in summer 2009.

Both developments offer a unique opportunity to acquire a slice of the Alps at a far lower price than comparable flats sold in the high-altitude resorts. The average property price is currently €3,000 per m2 in Bourg-St-Maurice, compared to almost €9,000/m2 in Tignes.

The municipality, meanwhile, is doing it’s utmost to ensure that property in Bourg-St- Maurice represents a sound investment. The funicular’s season is to be extended to offer a service to the mountain resorts and is now open in June and September. Some €20m has been pledged to finance a new spa and wellness centre, a project for a casino has been mooted and is expected to come to fruition within the next seven years and a global ski-pass (giving skiers access to ski stations across the Tarentaise Valley) is being negotiated with resorts within the Paridiski area.

“The mayor of Tignes has blocked the global ski-pass for now, but it is probably inevitable.We must think globally and work together if we are to see off the competition from Switzerland and the ski resorts in Eastern Europe,” says Adamkiewicz. And it’s not just these future plans that would make Bourg-St-Maurice a handy base for mountain lovers. The town offers a whole host of amenities and services that simply don’t exist in the ski resorts, such as large supermarkets, a weekly market, a wider variety of shops and restaurants and a hospital.

Furthermore, as Bourg-St-Maurice is a town first and foremost, it has 8,000 permanent residents and manages to avoid that ‘toy town’ feel that many purpose-built resorts suffer from – this is real France. So, not only are there residents there year-round, but there is also a wide range of services available to them throughout the calender and activities on offer that are better suited to the summer season.

For example, Bourg-St-Maurice’s River Isère hosts rafting and a white-water slalom for kayaking and canoeing, while the town also boasts an outdoor (and indoor) pool. For keen skiers, however, the nearest ski resort, Les Arcs, is just a seven-minute ride away on the Arc en Ciel funicular. Les Arcs is made up of four resorts at different altitudes: Les Arcs 1600, Arc 1800, Arc 1950 Le Village and Arc 2000.

Family fun

To the north-east of Les Arcs, towards the Italian border, lies the sleepy hamlet of Ste Foy en Tarantaise. This small village managed to survive the building boom of the 60s and 70s unscathed and, as a result, it is one of the few resorts that can boast a chocolate-box appeal, free from the ugly tower blocks that blight more popular resorts in the Savoie, and instead offering traditional chalets built from wood and stone and wonderful views over the valley below. The resort is ideal for families, being relatively compact and peaceful – with most residences offering ski-in/ski-out accommodation.

Although Ste Foy is renowned for its off-piste slopes, piste-skiing is limited. However, it is but a 20-minute drive from the resorts of Tignes, Les Arcs, La Rosière and Val d’Isère.

MGM already operates a residence de tourisme in the resort, Les Fermes de Sainte Foy, completed in 2005, and unsurprisingly, given the idyllic setting, all 73 apartments have been sold. However, plans are afoot for a further residence, La Grange aux Fees, which will straddle the road to the resort and offer 100 one- to four- bedroom apartments for outright purchase to be completed in 2009. Prices will be fixed at approximately €6,000 per square metre.

Directly north of Bourg-St Maurice, Les Saisies and nearby Crest-Voland Cohennoz are also both family-friendly resorts, based in traditional Savoyard villages with character-a-plenty. Developers here are keen not to sully these unspoilt resorts and have used traditional stone and wood to create further accommodation.

Two such developments are MGM’s Les Alpages de Bisanne, sited in Bisanne 1500, a small hamlet 6km from Les Saisies, and Le Chalet des Oursons in Cohennoz. These properties will surely benefit from a rise in demand thanks to new links to the Espace Diamant ski-area, connecting nearby resorts Notre Dame de Bellecombe, Praz sur Arly and Crest Voland together with Les Saisies and Cohennoz to create a ski area some 185km long.

Further plans to link Megève/St Gervais and Hauteluce/Les Contamines would add a further 120km to the skiing area accesible from these appartments.

The area is increasingly sitting up and taking note of the year-round potential of these mountain resorts, with some restaurants and shops now open throughout the summer, although the scale of activities available to non-skiers is yet to reach the intensity witnessed in the more lively southern resorts. Still, this is reflected in the price; these two developments start at €156,000 for a one-bedroom apartment, rising to €383,000 for a four-bed duplex.

The young ones

The most obvious example of a ‘more lively southern resort’ has to be Tignes. Just north of Val d’Isère lie the five villages that make up this resort: with Tignes Val Claret, Le Lac, and Le Lavachet all snuggled together at 2,100m and Les Boisses and Les Brévières sandwiched on either side of the dam, lower down the valley.

With the majority of visitors described as young, sporty men, aged 25-35, Tignes has a decidedly different feel to Ste Foy and Crest Voland. Testosterone-fuelled and sports-mad, the resort is packed with the kind of activities that you would expect to appeal to this demographic: ice skating, ice diving, husky rides, ski-jöring, mountain biking on snow, paragliding and ice-driving. Naturally, the resort also boasts a decidedly more upbeat après-ski scene, with two nightclubs, several restaurants and shops and an indoor sports centre with a 25-metre swimming pool, three water slides, gym and thermal spa. The resort is also used as a base for altitude training for professional athletes in the summer.

It isn’t just the excellent services and activities that makes Tignes an attractive investment opportunity. The resort is currently involved in several schemes designed to upgrade the available accommodation, which is set to push property prices still higher than the current €9,000 per square metre average.

First on the agenda for Tignes is to prioritise the creation of four-star luxury accommodation. To this end, MGM has recently completed its development in Tignes Val Claret. The development comprises Le Nevada, a residence de tourisme offering 50 apartments above a colonnade of shops, and a four-star, 27-bedroom aparthotel, Les Suites de Nevada. The latter still has two-bed apartments available for sale, priced at €443,000-€463,000, depending on floor-space and orientation.

MGM is also about to start construction on a development of 60 apartments at Tignes Le Lac, due for completion in December 2009. Current homeowners are also being encouraged to upgrade their holiday lets. The local council at Tignes and lift pass company STGM have instigated an incentive scheme – partenariat-propriétaires – to drive propertyowners to renovate their properties and encourage full occupancy. Owners receive a ‘pillow’ rating according to the standard of the accommodation and the number of weeks of rental the apartment achieves each year. Owners granted a high pillow rating are awarded discounts and deals from around the resort. Subsidies of up to 50% are also available for renovation costs.

At the bottom of the resort, Les Boisses is being transformed to become a gateway to Tignes, with new accommodation and d businesses being built via environmentallyfriendly construction methods. The resort is also in the process of replacing the older ski lifts and investing in snow canons to provide artificial snow for a greater number of pistes.

Reaching a compromise

Artificial snow is a subject in which ski resort La Plagne is well-versed. Back towards Bourg-St-Maurice, to the north-west of Tignes, La Plagne has spent 10 years upgrading its lift system and investing in artificial snow systems, and its network of pistes is now among the most efficient in the world, capable of moving 120,826 people per hour.

La Plagne is made up of six high-altitude resorts (Plagne Centre, Aime la Plagne, Plagne Villages/Soleil, Plagne Bellecôte, Belle Plagne and Plagne 1800) and four village resorts (Campagny en Vanoise, Plagne Montalbert, Montchavin and Les Coches). So La Plagne is a resort that hits the perfect compromise between lifestyle and family-friendliness. Even in the busier, less traditional high altitude resorts, chalets are well spaced and, despite a lively nightlife, you can hear a pin drop at night. La Plagne’s network of pistes can also accommodate a wide range of skiing abilities, from beginners to free-riders.

All are linked by a free shuttle bus and between them they offer an incredible array of activities, snow or no snow, such as iceclimbing, sledding, gyms and spas in the higher altitude resorts and farms, heritage tours and Savoyard evenings in the villages below. One must-do has to be the bobsleigh luge, originally built for the 1991 Winter Olympics and now open to the public via self-steering bob rafts. The run is terrifying and thrilling all at once, reaching speeds of up to 80mph and a G-force of five over 19 death-defying bends.

And should you feel in need of some serious relaxation after a hard day’s skiing or to recover from a brush with death on the bobsleigh – many of the hotels and residences offer spa facilities, including MGM’s development at La Plagne Soleil, Les Granges du Soleil.

It is this dedication to providing extra services that forms the basis of MGM’s future strategy. “Our target over the next 10- 20 years is to bring in money via tourist accomodation. For this market, it’s key to include spa facilities and shops. Ski holidays are changing; it used to be that skiers would hit the pistes from 8am to 8pm. Now people have busier lives, they want to be able to relax and try different activities.”

Some of these activities include discovering the heritage of the area and sampling its produce. As you would expect, good restaurants are plentiful throughout the Savoie, with many offering contemporary twists on the hearty Savoyard cuisine, such as nems de reblochon (pastry parcels filled with reblochon cheese) and others sticking to tradition with fondues and raclettes a-plenty, washed down with lashings of Savoyard wine. The abundance of farmers’ markets and artisan shops are increasingly advertised to tourists.

The Savoie has certainly taken notice of the need for additional extras and increasingly tourist offices are concentrating on promoting those that their resorts can provide. It is no longer enough for ski resorts to concentrate on skiing – they now need to provide a mountain experience. This is a useful transformation for everyone; the more that tourism in this area concentrates on the mountains, the more interest there will be from non-skiers and the more scope there will be for a year-round tourism trade. Savoie’s economy relies on the lucrative ski trade, with 50% of the department’s wealth generated through tourism, a number that could be improved in the future with these exciting developments.

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