The Challenge

Thales, a European electronic system provider to the aerospace industry, sought to centralize 2,300 employees in three locations to one headquarters site in Bordeaux, France, to drive both operational and cost efficiencies. Thales needed to find a site of approximately 40 acres suited for an industrial-grade building while navigating complex regulatory and environmental issues.

The Solution

CBRE brought its deep knowledge of local governments, regulatory and environmental issues to identify every suitable site in Bordeaux, including some that local governments had overlooked. In just 14 months, CBRE found and negotiated the purchase of the land that would eventually house Thales’ new offices and secured key government permits to build the facility. Thales is on track to relocate to its new 600,000 square-foot office space in Merignac, near Bordeaux, by the end of 2016.