Driven by a commitment to sustainable development, Villages Nature is a new European holiday destination designed for short and medium stays. It is a joint initiative from two leading names in tourism in France and Europe, Euro Disney S.C.A. and Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs.

Offering an innovative, year-round retreat right outside Paris, Villages Nature has unrivalled potential for a broad customer base, ranging from locals to tourists from France and all over Western Europe.

Market research conducted in 2006 and 2011 by Oliver Wyman/Mercer found significant interest among European tourists, including families with children, young couples and seniors, in the concept of a holiday that combines nature, recreation, relaxation and reconnection with loved ones, especially in key markets such as France, Benelux, the United Kingdom and Germany. And the Paris region already draws the most tourists in the world, with 32.7 million visits in 2012.
Villages Nature expects to welcome around 500,000 guests per year for its first phase, which is scheduled to open to the public in 2016. The facility will operate seven days a week, 365 days a year.

On the 445 acres (180 ha) that will open in a first phase, Villages Nature offers a rich and beautiful natural environment set against the wooded mountain ranges of Ferrières and Crécy along with 916 premium tourist residences (70% cottages and 30% apartments) and a raft of recreational and leisure facilities.

The flagship feature is the Aqualagoon, a 11,500 m² aquatic complex with one of the largest indoor water parks in Europe and an adjacent outdoor lagoon, heated to over 30°C by deep geothermal energy for year-round swimming.

The lifeblood of the resort, this geothermal resource will serve all of its heating requirements (excluding maintenance operations and unforeseen circumstances). This renewable energy solution is unique in European tourism, another example of Villages Nature’s confidence that technology can make holiday getaways accessible for the widest audience while still respecting the planet.

Inventing the tourism of tomorrow

This experience will be transformative, inspiring guests to participate in their communities and change things together, one step at a time. It will invite them to imagine a better world – a dream that is already within reach, here and now. This is an innovative, optimistic, responsible vision for tourism that is better adapted to the planet’s new environmental challenges.

Villages Nature represents a new era of environmental tourism projects that can meet all the requirements for preserving sensitive natural areas and the biodiversity they harbour.

Awakening the desire to protect the planet - an innovative, intuitive approach to sustainability

At Villages Nature, sustainable development is not just a matter of meeting regulations. It offers visitors a chance to experience nature’s diversity and abundance and discover a desire to protect and cherish the world we live in.

Our vision of sustainable development is based on three pillars:

• Celebration and protection of Nature, not just as an obligation but out of a desire to continue enjoying it with all our senses, in all its seasons
• Imagination, because sustainable development also means being able to look at our environment differently and enjoy unexpected experiences, either alone or with others
• Proximity, because Villages Nature is made possible by its unique location connecting the outskirts of Paris and the spectacular wooded ranges of Seine-et-Marne

A unique approach to sustainable tourism

Since its inception in 2003, Villages Nature has pursued a sustainable tourism approach, developing a Sustainable Action Plan with ten measurable targets inspired by the One Planet Living framework from BioRegional and WWF International.

The Sustainable Action Plan aims to reduce the site’s ecological footprint, ensure social and economic balance and promote the cultural and historical wealth of the surrounding region. To achieve these goals, objectives have been defined for each phase of the resort’s design, construction, operational planning and operation.

Choose Uponor : The guarantee of a reliable and sustainable system

For the realization of its work, Villages Nature Paris chose the quality, the durability and the sustainability above all. Uponor Pre-insulated Pipe Ecoflex meets these requirements by guaranteeing reliability, robustness and longevity. 10 000 meters were installed on the construction in progress.

The quality of our pre-insulated pipes is certified. The high quality of the flexible, pre-insulated pipes from Uponor comes from to the strengths of the individual elements. The combination of stable yet flexible jacket pipes, ageing-resistant, crosslinked polyethylene insulating layers and robust, long-life media pipes creates system pipes that can be laid easily, quickly and function reliably.

The stable, impact-resistant of PE-80 jacket pipe protects the insulating layer and medium pipe from external influences. The special design of the pipe geometry ensures a high flexibility on one hand, high capacity to withstand static loads on the other.

The age-resistant insulation consist of crosslinked polyethylene and has, due to its closed cell structure, only minimal water absorption. The multilayer design combines maximum flexibility and optimum heat insulation.

Uponor Pre-insulated Pipe Ecoflex Varia Twin and Aqua Twin are the ideal solution for distribution of district heating and warm tap water networks with heat pipes that promise thermal constance, mechanical strength and insensitivity to deposits.