Project manager
in Chautagne.

Chautagne forms the north-western tip of Savoie, between Lac du Bourget to the south, the Rhône and the Grand Colombier massif to the west, and the Gros Foug ridge to the east. Eight municipalities — Chindrieux, Serrières-en-Chautagne, Ruffieux, Chanaz, Motz, Saint-Pierre-de-Curtille, Vions and Conjux — share the same 73310 postcode and belong to the Grand Lac conurbation authority. Around 5,650 residents, ribbon villages and hamlets along the RD 991, vineyards on the hillsides and a vast wetland plain to the north.

What makes Chautagne unusual for a project manager is not its size: it is the sheer density of planning constraints weighing on every project. The Loi Littoral (coastal and lakeshore protection law) in the lakeside municipalities, a flood risk prevention plan covering almost the entire area, very extensive Natura 2000 sites, and a PLUi specific to Chautagne that explicitly protects traditional buildings. Here, the question is almost never “what do I want to build?” but “what am I allowed to do on this plot?”.

That is precisely a project manager's job: reading the regulations before drawing, weighing what is possible against what is not, then carrying the project through to handover. We work as project manager or as turnkey general contractor, with our in-house teams and a site manager on hand throughout.

Converting a barn into a home is the most common project in Chautagne — and the most misunderstood. It is not a simple renovation: it is a change of use, a planning operation in its own right. The Chautagne PLUi, approved in June 2022, identifies the buildings eligible for it under article L151-11 of the French Planning Code. If the building is not listed, the project will not go through — and in agricultural or natural zones, the binding opinion of the departmental commission (CDPENAF) is also required.

The regulations go further: they govern appearance. In particular, they require that “the large openings (e.g. barns) of traditional buildings shall not be walled up”, with glazed closures mandatory, and they protect roof and façade detailing — génoise eaves, window surrounds, quoins. In other words, you do not close up a barn the way you close a garage: the large open volume must remain legible.

Architecturally, this is good news — these constraints produce fine projects — provided they are built in from the initial sketch rather than at the application stage. Our design office checks the building's listing, the zoning and the appearance rules before any costing, so that our price and timing commitments hold.

Lac du Bourget is well above the 1,000-hectare threshold that triggers the Loi Littoral. In Chautagne, three lakeside municipalities are affected: Chindrieux, Conjux and Saint-Pierre-de-Curtille. Within the 100-metre strip outside built-up areas, construction is prohibited, save for very limited exceptions. However, the regulations do allow the repair, refurbishment and alteration of existing homes of at least 50 m² floor area — without any change in volume. In areas close to the shore, new buildings are only permitted as a continuation of existing villages, after review by the relevant commission.

On top of this comes the Plaine de Chautagne PPRi (flood risk prevention plan), approved on 28 August 2015, which covers seven municipalities and accounts for flooding from both the Rhône and the lake. It sets minimum floor levels and dictates foundations and crawl spaces. Finally, the area is very largely covered by Natura 2000 sites and inventoried wetlands.

In all honesty: nobody can tell you off the top of their head whether your plot lies within the 100-metre strip or in a flood zone. These boundaries are shown on the PLUi zoning map and in the PPRi regulations. It is the first thing we check, free of charge, before you commit to a design study — because a project rejected after design costs far more than a check carried out at the right time.