Various specialist bodies have been established over the years in order to help deal with the huge problem of industrial wastelands. While at the outset their programmes were essentially technical in nature (dispelling the historic image of the basin, a “return to point zero”), they gradually began to take into consideration the cultural values inherent in mining heritage.

The pits

Most of these have been regenerated, restored or protected as Historic Monuments. Their current realities and functions vary depending on what type of development projects have been undertaken, such as the provision of new facilities (commercial, administrative, cultural and leisure).

The Wallers Arenberg site forms part of a broader landscape regeneration project taking in the mining estate, the private forest and Goriaux lake, and is located in the Scarpe-Escaut Regional Natural Park. The Porte du Hainaut Agglomeration Community, which owns the site, has launched a definition contract to build a new community centre in the old mine buildings.
The 9-9 bis site in Oignies is made up of mine buildings, slag heaps and coal transport infrastructures. Following a regeneration of the site’s 200 hectares by EPF, the buildings are being restored and upgraded. The Hénin-Carvin Agglomeration Community has established a definition study contract, with a programme oriented towards the cultural and economic development of the site around a musical theme: concert halls, rehearsal and recording studios and a soundwalk. A heritage walk will also be created (an outdoor route and a permanent exhibition) to recount the history of the site.

The 11/19 pit , Loos-en-Gohelle. This is one of the three major mining sites in the Nord-Pas de Calais Coalfield where concerted reappropriation activity is being carried out by the Communauté d’Agglomération de Lens-Liévin (CALL) and the Loos-en-Gohelle Commune. The site is now dedicated to the redevelopment of the Coalfield. It is the first French ecopark (écopôle) and focuses on three main areas: culture, the environment and leisure activities. Four institutions work on the site: three associations – Culture Commune, Chaîne des Terrils and Carreau vert – and a private gardening enterprise.

Wallers-Arenberg	9/9bis - Oignies	11/19 - Loos-en-Gohelle

The pit head frames

In the framework of the State-Region Project Contract 1994-1999, the Nord-Pas de Calais EPF took action to safeguard the pit head frames (from corrosion and carbonation of concrete). The pit head frames which were included in the project benefited from restoration in order to prevent their deterioration and to ensure that they were made safe. Their preservation was thus assured and monitoring and maintenance work could follow. Some of the frames were protected under the Historic Monuments programme (being scheduled and/or listed).

The slag heaps

In 1992 the charter setting out the conditions of preservation, development and exploitation of the Nord-Pas de Calais slag heaps was launched.

It was signed by the various programme partners including the State, Coalmines of the Nord-Pas de Calais, the companies operating the slag heaps and the Chaîne des Terrils association. It identifies the slag heaps to be preserved (for their landscape and cultural interest, and their fauna and flora), those to be developed (needing to be repaired or having a leisure and tourism value) and those with carbon products to be extracted. Virtually all the slag heaps are to become the property of the General Councils as Sensitive Natural Spaces (Espaces Naturels Sensibles).

Landscaped slag heap in Rieulay

The current state of the slag heaps varies according to a number of parameters. Some have been reused, some have been landscaped (as areas for walking and other leisure activities) and some have become nature reserves. Public access is controlled in order to limit interaction between people and fauna and flora (some areas of the heaps are closed to the public). Municipal orders sometimes also reduce access to and use of slag heaps. The development of paths, panoramic viewpoints, picnic and activity areas and plantations ensures that paths are way-marked, thus limiting various types of destruction of the industrial and environmental heritage. Today, the slag heaps are genuine leisure facilities of remarkable historical and environmental interest, and have become lasting and all-encompassing beacons of the Coalfield's historic and cultural landscape.

Coal transport infrastructures

Cavalier - Trame verte

The cavaliers are part of the Trame Verte project initiated in 2002¹. Many sections of track have been renovated and redeveloped as walking areas, urban links or biological corridors. They are an absolutely essential potential instrument for maintaining a link between the various sites of mining heritage, in terms of a continuing cultural landscape and the creation of a network joining up the communes in the Coalfield.

The mining estates

For former miners, the mining estates are still seen as a strong element of their identity, symbolising their belonging to a community. Formerly the property of Charbonnages de France, they are now mainly owned by Maisons & Cités². Many of them have been restored and now meet living standards in terms of refuse collection, sanitation, insulation, roofing, central heating, thermal insulation, carpentry, and so on.

However, the miners’ estates often require onerous maintenance work to equip them with modern levels of comfort and are vulnerable with regard to various pressures: deterioration of materials, a lack of maintenance, and homogenisation caused by standardised and “automated” restoration which does not respect the specific characteristics of each estate (distortion).

The challenge is therefore to provide a restoration and management method which is suited both to the economic and social requirements of the changes which have had to be made to the housing, but also to the architectural and landscape identity of a unique, demanding and quality social housing stock. Since its inception, the Mission Bassin Minier has undertaken studies and work in mining settlements, in collaboration with Maisons & Cités. It is in the process of carrying out a sizeable inventory of all the mining estates in partnership with DRAC. In June 2006 it also published a technical manual on mining settlements aimed at local actors, technicians and elected representatives in order to raise awareness of the qualities and resources of this living environment, and to guide renovation and preservation policies aimed at this singular urban fabric.