The future Nîmes “h2” congress center is revealed less than a year before its opening

The future congress center will be delivered in less than a year. Midi Libre – MIKAËL ANISSET

Architects and elected officials were able to appreciate the progress of the work. Midi Libre – MIKAËL ANISSET

Part of the façade is already covered with Lens stones from the Moulézan quarry. Midi Libre – MIKAËL ANISSET

A monumental staircase that pedestrians will be able to see from rue Jean-Reboul thanks to the bay windows. Midi Libre – MIKAËL ANISSET

L’amphithéâtre, l’une des réalisations marquantes de ce futur centre de congrès h2. Midi Libre – MIKAËL ANISSET

Ce vendredi 6 décembre, une visite a permis de découvrir les coulisses du chantier de ce bâtiment qui sera inauguré, au secteur Porte de France, à Nîmes, en octobre 2025.

In less than a year, the h2 convention center, a flagship project of Mayor Jean-Paul Fournier and his team (cost: €59.3 million), will be delivered in the heart of the city (inauguration in November 2025), nestled between the Musée de la Romanité and the Porte de France. A place built on time thanks to the companies mobilized on the construction site since the beginning of 2023, a design by the Chabanne architect and 3XN architectes agencies.

The latter welcomed the press as well as the mayor, elected officials Julien Plantier, Franck Proust, Sophie Roulle and Xavier Douais on Friday, December 6, to show the progress of the work on this concrete and steel vessel, with its remarkable curves. If the schedule is respected, there remains a part that must be sealed off from water and air in a few months.

Pierre de Lens

If the departure of the second crane is scheduled for next January, the glazing, the monumental staircase of building B, the solar protections still need to be installed, and the stone cladding on the exterior facades need to be completed. The second phase work (interior of the building, finishing, network connection) will be scheduled for the end of the construction site, as well as the installation of the signage. A building that will have self-consumed photovoltaic panel production, uses recycled and bio-sourced materials, low-carbon concrete.

The future façade, with its metal frame, is revealed, which inspires Thomas Hervé of 3XN: “On the northern part, we installed what will be the final façade with stones from Lens, the same as the Maison Carrée, from the Moulézan quarry, about twenty kilometers away. It is a local, noble material, shaped, assembled, placed on panels, which will benefit from plays of light during the day.”

The visit allowed us to discover a monumental staircase designed to provide a form of flexibility, the future meeting rooms, exhibition rooms, catering rooms (equipment will allow caterers to prepare dishes), the future footbridge and to imagine the bay windows. They will allow pedestrians on rue Jean-Reboul to see part of the monumental staircases. The idea is also to show that the convention center will be open to the city, which will also generate a new district at Porte de France.

The City announces future pedestrian paths, green squares, shaded near the h2 buildings. The latter provide an unmissable view of the Musée de la Romanité and the Saint-Joseph chapel, the future cultural space dedicated mainly to the artist Claude Viallat.

700-seat amphitheater

The convention center will benefit from a 700-seat amphitheater (in denim blue armchairs), including 200 on the balcony. “85% of events at the convention center are equivalent to fewer than 500 people”, indicates the deputy for tourism Xavier Douais, whose teams are working in unison to fill the reservations diary for the future h2.

Because beyond the architectural gesture, it is also about developing the business aspect of business tourism with its economic spinoffs. Thus, Nîmes hoteliers will soon be received to make them aware of the future repercussions.

The convention center will not benefit from parking: “The target audience will be attracted by a convention center in the city center served by public transport. There are also existing parking lots”, we note at the city hall. Not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of the City a few months before the opening of the highly anticipated h2.

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