Huge Bichat hospital campus rising in Saint-Ouen

Eiffage Construction said on May 12 that it had started building the university section of the Grand Paris Nord hospital-university campus in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, a project designed to absorb activities now split between Bichat hospital in northern Paris and Beaujon hospital in Clichy. The start of works follows a 17-month design phase and site preparation through 2025, the company said. AP-HP, Université Paris Cité, EPAURIF and local planning authorities have framed the development as one of the biggest public health and higher-education investments in the Paris region. The site sits in the Docks district of Saint-Ouen, on more than 7 hectares, according to Plaine Commune. ### Who is building what in Saint-Ouen? Eiffage Construction is building the university hub of the campus under a contract awarded by Université Paris Cité and notified by EPAURIF in November 2024, the company said. The contract covers design, construction, operation and maintenance of the university component, with PCA-STREAM and Michel Rémon & Associés as architects and Ingérop, WSP and OASIIS as engineering partners. (eiffage.com) The university section will cover nearly 77,000 square meters and include four buildings for teaching and research, amphitheaters and a convention center, Eiffage said. A 4,000-square-meter central garden is also planned. Full delivery of that section is scheduled for the third quarter of 2029. (eiffage.com) ### Which hospitals and schools are being moved there? AP-HP says the new Saint-Ouen campus will regroup the medical and surgical activities of Bichat and Beaujon on one site. Université Paris Cité says it will also bring together teaching and research in medicine, dentistry and nursing that are now spread across eight sites. (eiffage.com) Plaine Commune says the broader project totals about 230,000 square meters, split roughly 60% for the hospital and 40% for the university. The intercommunal authority says the campus is expected to host 12,500 students, 1,200 teaching and research staff and about 5,700 jobs, including 4,400 linked to the hospital. ### What approvals were needed before construction could start? (aphp.fr) The Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture granted the hospital building permit to AP-HP on Sept. 24, 2025, AP-HP said. AP-HP also said the Conseil d’Etat confirmed the project’s public utility on June 23, 2025, ending litigation over the declaration of public utility, and that a single environmental authorization was issued on July 16, 2025. (plainecommune.fr) The prefecture granted the building permit for the university section on Jan. 23, 2026, after a public electronic consultation that ran from Nov. 7 to Dec. 7, 2025, according to state services in Seine-Saint-Denis. The application had been filed on May 16, 2025 for a site at 3 place du Capitaine Glarner and avenue Victor Hugo in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine. (aphp.fr) ### How far along is the wider campus timetable? Université Paris Cité says the training component is due to be operational for the 2029 academic year and the research component around 2030. Plaine Commune says the hospital is also planned on a 2030 horizon. AP-HP said in January that the hospital permit pushed the project into a new phase, with construction-site preparation for a spring 2026 start. (seine-saint-denis.gouv.fr) The project website says works for the CHU Saint-Ouen Grand Paris Nord have now started. ### How much money is committed to the project? The European Investment Bank lists the total cost of the Saint-Ouen Grand Paris Nord hospital-university campus at about 1.355 billion euros, with proposed EIB financing of 500 million euros. (u-paris.fr) The bank says the project will consolidate the services now provided at Bichat and Beaujon and the university training and research functions on one site. (aphp.fr) Eiffage said its university-hub contract is worth 397 million euros in total, of which 369 million euros is Eiffage’s share. The company said Eiffage Services will operate and maintain that part of the campus for 12 years after delivery. (eib.org) ### What happens next on the Saint-Ouen site? The next visible milestones are tied to delivery dates already published by the project’s participants. Eiffage says the university hub is due for full delivery in the third quarter of 2029, while Université Paris Cité says the training component should open for the 2029 academic year and the research component around 2030. AP-HP’s hospital component, for which the permit was issued in September 2025, remains the other major buildout on the Saint-Ouen site. (eiffage.com)