Old world charm meets smart building future

?I really didn’t think it was possible for me to have an even greater appreciation for the City of Lights. But walking into our Paris office on a visit earlier this year, I was immediately struck that this was something special. Cisco’s choice to renovate a historic building brought together the threads of reuse, ?sustainability and technology into a world-class experience.

The 19th century mansion located in the “Triangle d’Or” area will come to life first as our Olympic Customer Showcase for the Paris 2024 Olympics. After the Olympics, the building, located just adjacent to the Arc de Triomphe, will be reinvented into a magnet office for employees, and as a customer technology showcase center for the region.

This new office is the manifestation of a global workplace transformation strategy that is designed to not only apply purpose to our spaces while supporting hybrid workstyles, but to also further our progress on our environmental sustainability goals. This piqued my curiosity about how the many aspects?of the Paris office came cohesively together with a sustainability purpose. I immediately reached out to my colleague Christian Bigsby, SVP of Cisco’s Workplace Resources to learn more.

Cisco’s Paris office: Moving into the future by building on the traditions of the past

With the approach of the Paris 2024 Olympics, Cisco set dual goals of securing a regional office for our employees, while at the same time building a technology showcase center to host customers and partners. As Christian pointed out to me, the Paris office is unlike anything else in our real estate portfolio for these reasons:

• Leveraging our technology to overcome unique challenges
• Renovating the buildings for reuse and assigning purpose to the space
• Making the building even more sustainable with creative practices

Leveraging our technology to overcome unique challenges

Historical buildings are nothing new to city centers across Europe, but it is not common to see these buildings reach energy efficiencies and technology that rival new builds. The location of this new Cisco Paris office includes buildings across various periods, dating all the way back to a townhouse built in the 1820s during the Court of Napoleon.

These historic buildings tend come with steep requirements and restrictions to retain its historical relevance – some as far as not being able to alter the walls, floors, ceilings or door! ?So, we got creative and redefined innovative ways to renovate and build. For example, due to the historic nature of the building, we could not embed or attach anything to walls or ceilings. In some cases, technology was not allowed in what was once salons, living rooms and dining rooms. Our response? Wireless access points hidden and attached to desks and furniture!

By restoring and retaining the art and architecture of these spaces, it is quite a treat to be able to work in spaces with such old-world charm while enjoying modern innovation.

Some key technologies we implemented to bring the building into the future for the best employee experience possible while preserving the historic nature of the building include:

• Wireless access points
• Meraki cameras
• Temperature, humidity, air quality sensors to automate heating and cooling for employee health and well-being
• Cisco Spaces sensor data cited above, along with occupancy information, integrated into building operating systems for actionable insights and informed decision making

Renovating the buildings for reuse and assigning purpose to the space, Christian emphasized that a significant aspect of Cisco’s real estate strategy is to extend reuse and circularity into our building portfolio. We view real estate through the lens of reuse because new construction isn’t the only option.

Rather than build a temporary customer showcase center specifically for the Olympics, we chose to reuse and rehabilitate a historic building that would ultimately serve a dual purpose as our Paris office and Olympic showcase center for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

This strategy will enable Cisco to use the building as a regional office for employees, and as a customer showcase center long after the 2024 Olympics. In essence, we are extending the philosophy of reuse into brick-and-mortar buildings.

Additionally, we are also putting circularity into action in the building renovation by reusing furniture in our existing inventory instead of buying new. The reuse of furniture and consolidation of deliveries provided a reduction in embodied carbon at the Paris site by 18,618 kgCo2e, totaling an overall reduction in GHG emissions on this project of 42%. (Source: The Furniture Practice)

Making the building even more sustainable with creative practices

Another unique aspect of the building is how we used creative practices to up-level how we used sustainability as our guiding light. For example, the location of the building was thoughtfully chosen to be centrally located so that employees could more easily use public transportation.

70 bicycle spaces were created versus less than a handful of parking spaces to encourage employees to bike to work. And if easy bicycle parking wasn’t enough to entice, we put in a bicycle repair and maintenance shop onsite! Clever ideas can really make a big difference.

Looking Forward

As the world eagerly awaits the lighting of the Olympic torch, we are thrilled to welcome our customers and partners to our Paris Olympic Showcase center.? When the games conclude, Cisco will pivot fully to the dual purpose of the Paris building renovation. The building purpose will be transformed into a magnet office drawing in employees, customers and partners alike.

Au revoir,

Denise and Christian