News

BNIC to build ‘magical’ new base in Cognac

06 April 2023 By Sarah Neish

The Bureau National Interprofessionnel Du Cognac (BNIC) has announced it will open a new headquarters in 2025, built in the heart of the town of Cognac.

The first images have been released for what will become the new beating heart of the Cognac region. The building, set on the banks of the river Charente, will house the BNIC, the organisational body for the Cognac sector, from 2025.

Designed by Wilmotte & Associés Architectes agency, with the support of A40 Architectes and Sempervirens Paysagistes for the landscaping element of the project, the new building will be several years in the making.

Open to Cognac professionals, it will become the base for more than 100 BNIC employees including lawyers, engineers, technicians, communicators, statisticians, administrative staff, IT specialists and more), and will also host the winegrowing and Cognac trade unions.

Christophe Veral, president of the BNIC, said: “After having conquered the world, Cognac wants to reinvest its territory and continue to contribute to its attractiveness and development. Like past generations, the actors in the sector wish to bring their contribution to the history of Cognac and of a thousand-year-old town through this architectural gesture. This new headquarters bear witness to our visceral attachment to the roots of the Cognac appellation. For Cognac to be
found in the most beautiful places, in New York, Shanghai, or even Lagos, the magic has to happen here, in Charente.”

The construction of the new BNIC headquarters is part of a broader development and transformation of the town of Cognac. The BNIC intends for the new building to illustrate the Cognac sector’s commitment to sustainable development as well as its desire to build on its national and international influence.