When the Factory Becomes Heritage
By the early 1980s, industrial heritage was everywhere in Yverdon and Sainte-Croix. Aerial views reveal peripheral belts. They are entirely organized around industrial development, following the paths of railway and road networks. Through sometimes unexpected commercial repurposing, many key architectural witnesses of the industrial era have been preserved, often in remarkably good condition. These large complexes were long dismissed for their austere functionalism. However over the past decade, they benefited from a genuine heritage policy inspired by French, Belgian and Italian models. In 2021, the Canton of Vaud adopted a legislation on the protection of built cultural heritage. It allows these former industrial flagships to be classified as patrimonial monuments and granted some protective measures.