The Fermentis Campus
Fermentis by Lesaffre, the business unit of Lesaffre specialising in fermented beverages such as beer, wine and spirits, inaugurated its new Campus on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023. This space brings together all the employees of the Lille metropolitan area in a single space devoted to this activity. The Fermentis Campus also has numerous facilities dedicated to research and training.
The new facility is located in Marquette-Lez-Lille, on the historic site of the Lesaffre grain distillery founded in 1853 by Louis Lesaffre and Louis Bonduelle, co-founders of the group.
« The Campus is an extraordinary place to be close to our customers and partners and to interact with them in order to fully understand their needs. We want to experience together; to see, touch, feel and enjoy together. »
Stéphane Meulemans,
General Director of Fermentis.
3000 m²
50
fermentation tanks
20
beers in production
17
sensory analysis booths
50
employees
LESAFFRE'S HISTORY AT THE CORE OF THIS CAMPUS
Located on a historic Lesaffre site, the Fermentis Campus has been set up on the site of the grain alcohol distillery founded in 1853 by Louis Lesaffre and Louis Bonduelle, co-founders of Lesaffre. In order to preserve this valuable history, the façade of the old distillery has been preserved.
In 1923, after a sudden drop in the purchase price of grain alcohol, the distillery was transformed into a malting plant called Grandes Malteries Modernes. It became the headquarters of the business, with production units in France, the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
It was in 2006 that Lesaffre then separated from its malt production activity, in order to concentrate on the activities we know today: yeasts, micro-organisms and other fermentation products.
On the first floor of the historic site, which has now become the Fermentis Campus, a creativity room has been named after Patrick Lesaffre: a testimony to the key role he played in steering the malting activity between the 1970s and the sale of the business.
Although they posed a difficult challenge for the architects, some of the grain silos from the old malthouse were retained, and the industrial history of the region influenced the choice of materials: concrete, brick, wood, glass, leather, metal.
A PLACE FOR RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION, BOTH TECHNICAL AND SENSORY
The technical hall of the Fermentis Campus is the major tool of the building. Designed to test yeasts, bacteria and yeast derivatives in thousands of different conditions, the facility has 40 1hL, 8 10hL and 2 40hL fermentation tanks, all of which are fully equipped and connected to monitor and analyze the fermentation process.
Two additional open tanks have been installed to allow visitors to observe fermentation live.
THE WATCHWORDS:
GATHER, SHARE, TRANSMIT
The Fermentis Campus is located in Marquette-Lez-Lille, on a strategic crossroads easily accessible from Paris, Brussels or London.
A sensory analysis laboratory is also part of this new Campus. Through three tasting panels of about 50 people trained and supervised to express what they feel during tasting, it is in this laboratory that the physico-chemical indicators become understandable to all.
To better train clients and partners in the use of their products, the Fermentis Campus is also equipped with an amphitheater that can seat up to 160 people during Fermentis Academy training sessions.
On the first floor of the Campus, all expertise is gathered: technical sales, R&D, marketing and communication, supply chain, finance, legal and regulatory teams. Designed to encourage teamwork, freedom and movement, the office space makes it easier to deal with Fermentis’ customers on a daily basis.
