A green seminar just 30 minutes from Paris? It's possible!

In the heart of a green setting, the Capgemini Les Fontaines Campus is the ideal venue for your events: high-tech, multimedia, auditorium and seminar rooms, all with natural daylight and overlooking a park whose eco-system leaves you breathless. A park that is a delight for sports enthusiasts, and a great place for team-building activities in the great outdoors, thanks to a team of gardeners who keep a close eye on things...
The property covers over 50 hectares, the equivalent of 70 soccer pitches, and boasts 60,000 trees! Gardeners Franck and Eric work every day to preserve, enhance and develop it, and know every detail. It' s a very diverse area," explains Franck, "in terms of both flora and fauna. There's a 30-hectare wood, but also a pond, three islands, canals, marshland and areas dedicated to sports."
Loiseleur, a company based in Picardy, has been in charge of the green spaces for the past ten years. Founded in 1927, this family-run business has been developing a highly environmentally-friendly approach for four generations. " Campus' commitment to respecting the environment from the outset dovetails perfectly with our way of working," explains Didier Fruitier, the company's sales manager, " which enabled Campus to receive the European Eco-Label as early as 2008″. The company, certified ISO 140001 in environmental management, is in fact developing a naturalistic approach to grounds maintenance and has created two compost platforms that transform 4,000 tonnes of green waste every year. " Our aim is to help nature thrive," adds Eric, " this space must be pleasant for visitors, but also respectful of plants and animals." A stroll through the park demonstrates this perfectly: the banks of the pond provide areas for birds to nest and frogs and dragonflies to develop; a rose garden offers a haven of peace for young deer; an area of stinging nettles provides protection from birds for the butterflies Paons du Jour.
The park offers visitors a wide range of leisure activities. Originally a place of pleasure for the Rothschild family and their guests, it also boasts a grotto, boating areas, bridges spanning canals, and winding paths where you can catch a glimpse of deer, foxes, wild boar, geese, cormorants, kingfishers... "There's an incredible amount of life here. There's incredible life here. Just a few dozen meters from the workspaces, lizards bask in the sun, and in the evening a ballet of ducks and geese takes over the pond. There are no pesticides here," explains Franck. We weed with a harrow, a thermal burner and most of the time... by hand! This is greatly appreciated by the Conservatoire d'espaces naturels de Picardie. " They give me all the advice I need to encourage the conservation and development of biodiversity, and we have, for example, succeeded in protecting several species of amphibians and dragonflies, not to mention the Cistudes water turtles. We now have a new project: to create a walking trail to accompany visitors and share with them all that nature has to offer here."
With 35 years in the business, Franck and Eric have forged their philosophy: " A pleasant place is first and foremost a harmonious place, viable for everyone - man, fauna and flora. If visitors enjoy Les Fontaines so much, it's because they can easily see that respect for the environment is not just an expression, but a real act."