In Perpignan, the former Dames de France department store will become a “Xavier Niel” school

Les Dames de France, the former department store of all Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) is promised a second life.

It has just been bought by the town hall to house the most famous of the second chance schools, accessible without a diploma or initial training.

The sixth École 42 de France, a concept launched by Xavier Niel, founder of Free, will open its doors in September 2022.

This training in new technologies and IT professions will be installed on a single platform.

The lease will be signed before the end of the year between École 42 and an association bringing together public and private partners.

The file is closed after years of expectations, especially after the departure of Fnac from this most beautiful commercial building in the Art Nouveau style.

"Excellent news for our entire department"

This second chance school must integrate 150 young people who do not necessarily have diplomas. These students will be selected during a so

called

session

lasting one month (in May-June 2022) where applicants learn to swim in the digital world to discover all the learning methods of the training: peer-to-peer learning (no lessons and no teachers, the students themselves are in charge of their success), group work, peer-evaluations or even project-based pedagogy. The top 150 will start their training at the start of the 2022 school year with real job prospects in the world of coding and programming in particular.

“The finalization of the purchase of the Dames de France by the town hall is excellent news for both the future of this building and of the city center.

This is excellent news for the entire urban community and even beyond for our entire department.

We have no industry and the development of digital and digital activities has a bright future, ”explains Laurent Gauze, vice-president of the urban community of Perpignan, initiator, with the municipality, of this operation. .

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“We visited the premises with the leaders of School 42 during the summer.

The 1000 m2 second floor plateau is suitable for them.

Other projects should arrive to revive the other real estate units of the Dames de France, ”continues Laurent Gauze, who promises to sign the lease before the end of the year.

To get there, the town hall bought the building for € 3 million from the owners (Caisse d'Épargne and Banque des Territoires).

And she borrowed that amount over forty years.

“The various rents that we are going to collect will cover this investment.

It will be a good financial operation, ”we promise the cabinet of Louis Aliot, the mayor of Perpignan.