Project Official selection 2024

HLU is HOPE – HOlistic logistique the Port and its Environment

A project supported by: CNR – Rhône National Company

Completion date: 2023

To sum up

The Urban Logistic Hotel (HLU), located on the Port Edouard Herriot in Lyon (France), was conceived from the outset as a functional and architectural link between the city and the port. Its purpose is to receive the flow of goods entering the Lyon urban area, and to optimize their urban distribution over the last few kilometers. HLU integrates electric bicycle deliveries (three-wheelers/trailers), as well as zero-emission delivery vehicles. In this way, it contributes to the development of low-carbon solutions for supplying the Lyon urban area. It is also a laboratory for experimenting with the logistics of tomorrow.

Because of the site’s location, close to a historic monument (the old stadium) and the Gerland district (avenue Tony Garnier), particular attention has been paid to the architectural quality of the project. For that reason, it comprises two buildings. The first one has been designed as a demonstrator of innovative urban logistics. It was designed as a garage dedicated to the maintenance and servicing of innovative vehicles involved in urban logistics operations, as well as an experimental platform for testing the deployment of different logistics services. The southernmost building is a more conventional logistics one.

In the long term, the Hôtel Logistique Urbain will be able to be supplied by road, rail, and waterways. It helps in the development of low-carbon urban logistics and the reduction of delivery costs by bringing goods closer to consumers.

The development of the Port of Lyon is governed by a master plan and a partnership charter, which brings together the French government, local authorities, and the CNR. This specific governance ensures a harmonized city-port link and a global vision of the port in its environment. In 2017, the departure of a logistics company freed up one of the port’s largest plots of land. Together, the partners in the master plan decided to dedicate this plot to a different project, dedicated to urban logistics and new forms of mobility. The aim was to respond simultaneously to the challenges of urban delivery, the city-port connection, and port development, with a long-term vision.

Positioning of the project in relation to the Agenda 2030’s goals*

*According to the CNR

Directly relatedIndirectly relatedNot related
Goal 1: Climate change adaptationx
Goal 2: Energy transition & circular economyx
Goal 3: Sustainable mobilityx
Goal 4: Renewed governancex
Goal 5: Investing in humanx
Goal 6: Port Culture & Identityx
Goal 7: Quality food for allx
Goal 8: Port city interfacex
Goal 9: Health & life qualityx
Goal 10: Protecting biodiversityx

 Learn more about the AIVP commitment: Commitment – AIVP

Outstanding features:

  • The HLU is an urban and port facility which help decarbonize last-mile logistics.
  • A two-level building to help limit the land impact of logistics.
  • Setting up a laboratory for the logistics of the future, to develop new delivery practices that are fewer in number, shorter, carbon-free, and encourage massification and modal shift (rail/river/road).
  • The project includes a rainwater collection system and 15,000 m² of photovoltaic panels on the roof and has also received the HQE certification (High Environmental Quality).
  • Development of a river shuttle from the HLU to the city center of Lyon. The outbound flow is dedicated to deliveries, while the return flow is used to collect waste, which will then be recycled by specialist companies located within the Port of Lyon.
  • The project is part of a long-term partnership between CNR, the Metropole of Lyon, the French State, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, the cities of Lyon and Saint-Fons and Voies Navigables de France as the manager of the river network.
  • The HLU offers a range of services dedicated to food logistics.
  • The site has more than 9,000 m² of green spaces, in which more than 250 trees have been planted, contributing to create a green corridor within the Lyon port area.

Image of the project

About the Rhône National Company

CNR is France’s leading producer of 100% renewable energy and the concession holder for the development of the Rhone River. We have three main missions on the river: hydroelectricity production, development of river navigation and irrigation of agricultural land.
CNR is committed daily basis to implementing the ecological transition, with the territories as its first partners. The Ports of Rhone are 18 industrial and logistic parks, including the Port of Lyon, managed by CNR. Their development is carried out in close collaboration with local authorities, to ensure that the ports blend seamlessly into their environment.

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