After 15 years of existence, Les Marches de l'Oise is today considered one of the foremost success stories of its kind. Currently, there are approximately 100 businesses established on site, employing around 1000 employees.
The site was previously owned by the French industrial giant Chaussons, and was acquired as part of a joint effort by public and private partners to redevelop the site and revitalize the area.
The industrial park covers 30 hectares and is a completely fenced and secured complex. It consists of a varied set of structures tailored to a whole range of business activities. Over the last 15 years, several buildings have been demolished, though many have been refurbished to facilitate further use, and many new purpose-built constructions have sprung up. In fact, the success of the site has meant that one of the challenges for the future will be to regulate the increasing demand to utilize available plots.
All the buildings are named after capital cities in Europe and are built according to strict building regulations. The latest unit, Prague, is an example of a low-carbon structure and was awarded as such by the European GreenLight programme, an initiative of the European Commission.
Currently, the site consists of 105 000 m² of built space, 26 500 m² of which has been constructed since the establishment of the industrial park. Major sectors are logistics, production and mixed activities in the fields of manufacturing, services and/or management/sales.
The particular business activities are varied, ranging from plastics extrusion, the manufacture of fire doors and oil barrels and air conditioning, to tertiary logistics, accounting, information services and industry services.
Tax Incentives
Urban free zones, or 'zones franches urbaines' as they are known in France, were originally part of a social initiative by the government of Alain Juppé in the late 1990’s. The purpose of the zones is to rejuvenate marginalized areas and to create new jobs. To further this cause, the zones are permitted to offer various tax exemptions.
Tax exemptions are not universal, but are instead offered on a case-by-case basis. In Creil-Montataire as a whole, 30% of businesses benefit from partial or total exemptions. In Marches de l’Oise, however, the figure is closer to one in two, at 47%.
After the success of the first 44 zones, which were created before 1997, new ones have come into existence and there are now 100 zones in France. The factors that enable an area to seek free zone status include the unemployment rate, the proportion of persons leaving the school system without a diploma, the percentage of young people in the local population and the ability of the inhabitants to pay taxes. In total, the 100 zones have succeeded in creating 300, 000 new jobs and attracted 55, 000 individual companies.
The zones are on the whole considered valuable projects; both on social grounds and to the extent they encourage entrepreneurs and a plurality of business activities.
Features of the site
There are a number of reasons why businesses have chosen Les Marches de l’Oise. Firstly, the site enjoys an ideal location just to the north of Paris, which enables businesses to offer efficient service to clients in both the capital and in Northern France. The area is also well sited with respect to major road links and the proximity to the international airport, Charles de Gaulle-Roissy.
The local economic development agency, Sud-Oise Development, provides assistance in setting out a business plan, getting in touch with regional and local institutions and in the recruitment process. They also offer advice and guidance to inexperienced companies.
Existing tenants testify that one of the most attractive features of the industrial park is the flexibility of existing office space. To illustrate the point, the manager of AP Extrusion, Mr Didier Cabrol, shows how difficult it can be when young and growing businesses need to expand: “At our old offices of 450 m² there was simply no way to expand according to our needs. As soon as we got in contact with Marches de l’Oise, we found a partner willing to listen. They immediately proposed a solution to fit our needs by uniting two office units into one by simply tearing down the separating wall. In addition, the 24-hour guard service enables us to make free use of our outside space for the purpose of storage without worrying about security.”
Setting up operations can be time-consuming and expensive for a young company. Jean Michel Duquenne of the company Boullet explains how Les Marches de l’Oise appealed because of the existing infrastructure: “My concern was primarily not to waste too much time. At Marches de l’Oise, so much is already in place. Even though some refurbishment was required, we saved several months in setting up our operations by choosing this site. In addition, access to it is very practical, we have no problem with parking or getting around with the often very heavy equipment that we use.”
A site like Les Marches de l’Oise also offers the prospect of important synergy effects. Jean-Louis Brayer, the founder of Diverchim, chose to locate there because, as he explains: “The presence of other businesses operating in the same sector has been an indispensable asset to the further development of our operations.” Diverchim does work in pharmaceutical research and development.
For further information, please see our pages on Sud-Oise Development.
