A former industrial powerhouse at the heart of Lyon's working-class history, the Fagor-Brandt home appliance factory, in the Gerland district, once stood on a 4.5-hectare site (110,000 sq m including 73,000 sq m of covered buildings), part of which is now being regenerated.
The factory still employed 1,800 workers in the early 1980s, but the workforce had fallen to a little under 400 by the 2000s. Starting in 2005, production activity was gradually relocated abroad, and the factory was sold to SITL, and then to Cenntro Motors, in 2010. While switching to the production of electric cars, the plant went downhill and closed in 2015.
The site, currently out of industrial service, is now hosting cultural events such as Les Nuits Sonores (since 2017), the Contemporary Art Biennale (2019) and the Dance Biennale (2021).
