Château des Hauts, mission accomplished!

That’s it, I have signed the biggest check of my life (payments by check are no longer made for that matter), for the acquisition of Château de Hauts, at Chapelle Saint Mesmin, near Orleans, which will become, during the first semester of 2014, after a year of renovation work, Pentalog’s headquarters.This operation is worthwhile and I know that many of us have been looking forward to it. Certainly, it has taken us some time to sign this document, but, after all, this little castle has existed for about 300 years in its current shape and these turrets probably date back about 500 years… then, what is a year of waiting?I am happy for the Orleans founders, the group of 5 or 6 people, who launched this crazy project which became Pentalog 20 years ago. We never intended to strike it big. We haven’t created a company thinking of its resale value. We want to write our own little history and finally we have drawn our maps, met thousands of people, supported almost 10 other companies, set up subsidiaries, recruited almost 1,000 people, of whom 700 are with us today. A company is not a story, not even an adventure, it is rather an epic, dramas and comedies, dozens of love stories, and I don’t even know myself how many marriages and children… We needed a single place to share, and this place will be Château des Hauts, for Pentalogians of today and for those to come.I will repeat this often, I know, please don’t bear me a grudge if I do so, but there are many envious people in this world, especially when it comes to a dream. Château des Hauts, once restored, will not cost Pentalog more than €3,000/m2 of living space, meaning half the price of an average neighborhood apartment in Paris, rather less than what it would have cost in Bucarest or Hanoi and much less than a headquarters in London, Tokyo or New York.Of course, we’ve got plenty of ideas regarding what we are going to do, from a professional perspective, in this place which is different from others (a place for strategy, prestige, sharing and reflection), but we are happy to embark on a patrimony conservation mission that such an acquisition definitely entails. We are well aware that we are only the trustees, not the owners and we must pass it on in the best possible condition to our successors in this mission.The Pentaloguians in Orleans are already wondering what changes it will bring for them. Will we organize meetings in the garden, or even shows? Will they be able to grow their own vegetables to fortify themselves with vitamins if they dare to ? I really don’t know. Now, that we are finally going to have our own first house, we can ask ourselves what we really want to do with it. We look forward to it more than ever. A new and very long year begins today.Articles on the same topic:Read more on Frédéric Lasnier and on the Pentalog business model,All the articles written by Fréderic Lasnier.Château des Hauts, future Pentalog headquarters Contrary to what it may seem, the new headquarters of Pentalog won’t cost us too muchFrédéric Lasnier’s blog