Alice Delude, ecological engineer: “Logistics is a challenge!”

Logistics was not her first choice. “When you set out to work in sustainable construction, you tend to think of greening cities, not warehouses!” explains Alice Delude, an ecological engineer at the Payet consulting firm. Yet since joining Payet in 2015, the AgroParisTech graduate has learned to see things differently. “As an ecological engineer, I have to ensure that construction or renovation projects have the least possible impact on biodiversity,” she explains. “But my role is also to support companies, including those in logistics, so that the sites that are built can support biodiversity over the long term.” 

After completing a science-focused high school diploma and BCPST preparatory classes (Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences), Alice Delude passed the entrance exam for her engineering school, where she completed a three-year program that led her to specialize in “environment.” “Between my second and third years, I completed a six-month gap-year internship at Payet, where neither the ecologist nor landscape architect position yet existed.” The role was created for her when she joined in 2015. Before that, however, Alice Delude completed her final year at AgroParisTech with the IDEA specialization—for “Waste, Water and Sustainable Development Engineering”—supplemented by a module on eco-districts and sustainable construction.

As soon as she joined Payet, she began working with logistics real estate stakeholders seeking to go beyond regulatory requirements by obtaining HQE (High Environmental Quality) or BREEAM certification for their projects. “Regulations are there to prevent environmental impacts, reduce them when they cannot be eliminated and, as a last resort, offset them when there is no other option,” she explains. In recent years, she has encountered increasingly committed contacts—project owners, logistics platform owners, architecture firms, landscape architects and project managers—in biodiversity-protection initiatives. “Compared with just a few years ago, discussions are increasingly easy, and I sense that logistics real estate stakeholders are listening more closely,” says Alice Delude. “As for users, however, there is still a great deal of awareness-raising and education to be done.” While there is no real resistance, some issues do not yet seem natural to them, “such as leaving certain areas unmown. Biodiversity needs tall grass, but they fear that the spaces will look neglected if they are not kept closely cut. I advise them on finding the best compromise.” 

Unlike urban buildings, warehouses, together with their associated outdoor spaces, offer enormous playgrounds. “Their size enables us to be more ambitious,” says Alice Delude enthusiastically. “We can re-create hedgerows, plant different tree species and design ecosystems on a larger scale than in cities.” For Alice Delude, it is also essential to use local nurseries and growers, “but the price difference compared with supply chains from the Netherlands, Spain or Italy sometimes overrides landscape architects’ good intentions.” Another challenge is that her contacts would like trees to grow as quickly as warehouses do... “Many would like the vegetation to already be very lush when the building is inaugurated,” she says. “But it is better to plant young specimens rather than mature trees... so developers, builders and users must learn to be patient with nature!” 

Her professional conscience can also sometimes lead her to say no to those she works with. “We sometimes receive requests for support in obtaining the BiodiverCity label that we cannot fulfill,” she explains. “As its name suggests, this label certifies that a project meets a certain standard of ecological quality and biodiversity. Yet for some projects, which are starting too far behind, that standard cannot be achieved. In those cases, we must tell them, tactfully, that it will not be possible,” while nevertheless helping them improve. For Alice Delude, logistics real estate professionals are fortunate to have large spaces associated with their buildings, enabling them to become genuine players in protecting nature. “It is about supporting biodiversity, but it is also an argument for residents of the municipalities around the sites, who sometimes find it difficult to accept warehouses being built near their homes,” says the ecological engineer. “The care given to flora and fauna also creates a more pleasant living environment for those who come to work in these areas.”