Project Development

37 Years of History: Looking Back at an Extraordinary Land Development Project in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne (1/3)

Every real estate project has its own story, its own unique characteristics, and above all, its own timeline. But some situations go far beyond the usual standards, which is precisely the case for our Symbiose neighbourhood project in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne. Indeed, it took 37 years of land development history before the project could finally come to life.

It All Began in 1982

At the time, the Canton of Vaud required the municipality to establish a Land Improvement Association (SAF).

Its objective? To plan the development of agricultural land into building land on a comprehensive scale, while avoiding the creation of fragmented and uncoordinated neighbourhood plans.

A powerful but demanding tool:

It pools together the properties intended for sale, namely the agricultural land earmarked for development.
It “anonymises” the plots to prevent conflicts of interest.
It acts as a transformation operator, managing public consultations, zoning changes and appeals.

13 Neighbourhood Plans… and 37 Years of Procedures

The SAF defined 13 development zones within the municipality. However, to guarantee fairness between landowners, a rule was established: no individual development would be permitted until all plans had been approved.

While this legal safeguard protected against inequalities, it effectively prevented any project from moving forward.

It was only in November 2019 that the final appeal was withdrawn and all 13 plans finally came into force.

More Than 3,500 Potential New Residents: A Challenge for the Municipality

This large-scale development represented a potential population increase of 40%. The municipality therefore had to plan a phased deployment over 8 to 10 years in order to adapt its infrastructure, including schools, roads and utility networks.

Our Symbiose project, located in the Pernessy neighbourhood, was initially ranked 10th in the development schedule, meaning construction was not expected to begin for approximately eight years.

In our next article, discover how NewHome Services’ expertise enabled us to become the first developer to launch a project in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne.