Monaco, the richest country in the , world, has a problem. It’s full. The entire country covers an area smaller , than Central Park and with Monaco’s reputation for glamor and elegance, luxury developments , have literally filled up the entire country. So, in this video, we’re diving into Monaco’s . incredible solution. A $2 billion expansion that the country is building into the , sea. This is a brand new neighborhood, built by world renowned architects, using sustainable construction techniques and offering the highest possible , quality of luxury to its residents. I’m Regis and this is Mareterra. Before we dive into Mareterra itself, it’s important to understand why Monaco . needs to expand in the first place. To do that, we need to step back , in time for a minute. To the 1800s. At that time, the Principality of Monaco , was a lot bigger than it is today. But with France to the north, Italy to the East, and Spain not far away, the Principality had fallen under the rule of . its more powerful neighbours for centuries. That all changed, however, in 1861, when this man, Prince Charles III, signed the . first Franco-Monégasque Treaty. In it, he basically sold 90% of Monaco’s land to France. The return - 4 million . gold francs… and full independence. This is a massive simplification but the point . is that Monaco now had the freedom to really determine its own future. With the slight problem , that they’d just lost most of their territory. And that’s when the Monaco we know today was born. Monaco then used the 4 million gold francs from , France to reinvent itself as a luxury tourist destination. Focusing on glamorous coastal . resorts and gambling, which was illegal in France at the time, Monaco began attracting . Europe’s richest elite to its tiny shores. As the years went by, Monaco doubled down on the strategy. They built casinos and luxury hotels and opened marinas to cater for the , international yachting community. In 1950, they featured in the first ever Formula One World Championship, which still returns every year , for the Monaco Grand Prix. And with other exclusive events . like the Monaco Yacht Show and the Monte-Carlo Masters on the calendar, not to mention the finest restaurants and shops, the country became a prime destination , for the world’s wealthiest people. To encourage them to stay, Monaco put in . place an extremely lenient tax system. Residents in Monaco pay no tax on personal income, capital gains or wealth. Corporation tax is low and property tax is only applied , for rentals. There are, of course, a few exceptions to the rules, like if you’re a French . national, in which case you do pay income tax. Sounds good, right? Well, for them it is. And their plan worked. Monaco is now the richest country per capita in . the world. It has the highest concentration of millionaires and an international reputation as a playground for the rich and famous. Developers have built everywhere they can in . an attempt to meet the demand for high-end real estate, but the natural geography of the , microstate limits construction massively. Much of Monaco’s 2km2 is mountainous and . difficult or impossible to build on. Despite the challenges, over 36,000 people , now live in Monaco, making it the most densely populated country in the world, and that’s only expected to rise going into the 2030s and 40s. Since, if you want to profit from Monaco’s lenient . tax laws one needs to establish residence in the country. And an essential requirement for , that is to own or at least rent a property. Hence it is no surprise that property prices , are currently among the highest in the world. Recent valuations put the average , price of 1m2 at a crazy €50,000. To put that in perspective, that is four times higher than in Paris. Anyway, we’re telling you all this to explain one , critical point. Monaco needs to build more luxury real estate so it can keep attracting high net worth individuals. That’s what they do. So the question is, how are they doing it? Well, the only way they can. By building out into the ocean. This is something that Monaco’s . been doing for over a century. In the years following the Franco-Monégasque . Treaty that we talked about earlier, Monaco was already filling in parts of its . coastline to build railways. Since then, Monaco has grown and grown and grown. Actually, the country has already increased its territory by a fifth thanks to land reclamation projects. The biggest of which is the Fontvieille project , of the 1970s. Here, Monaco reclaimed 22 hectares of land from the sea using a construction method , similar in principle to the one used in Mareterra. Developers first built a 1km dike in the sea stretching all the way around the perimeter of the new district. Then they filled the enclosure . with 7 million tonnes of boulders and gravel and after 10 years they eventually had the foundations on which they could start laying down buildings. Fontvielle was a massive project . and a success at the same time, as it is now home to around 10% of the population. But Monaco’s new undertaking, though smaller . in physical size, is much more ambitious. Which finally brings us to Mareterra itself. The answer to Monaco’s lack of space and thirst for high-end real estate. Mareterra is a 6 hectare expansion that fuses extreme luxury with pioneering sustainable construction, and it's this combination . that makes Mareterra so ambitious. You see, every centimeter of Mareterra has been carefully master-planned. And .

it starts with the foundations. Based on the principles of marine eco-design, Mareterra’s underwater foundations have been designed to encourage and preserve biodiversity. This kind of construction is brand new for Monaco and before a single rock was even put down, 520m2 of sea grass was carefully transplanted to a . new home nearby, preserving its role in the local ecosystem. 12 separate cleaning operations took place to care for protected species and 2 artificial reefs were built off shore to . provide new homes for any displaced sealife. With the ground clear, 50m underwater, Mareterra , began to take shape. It started as a wall of 1 and a half million tonnes of gravel. Each rock, , measuring between 2 and 18 cm, was placed on the seabed with pinpoint accuracy by this ship, , the Simon Stevin, kind of like a 3D printer. It formed a perfectly level foundation that follows the natural flow of the underwater currents, putting less pressure . on the foundations and causing as little disturbance as possible to marine life in the long-term. With the wall built, 18 of these especially designed concrete caissons, each weighing 10,000 tonnes, were . floated in and layed perfectly on top of the rocks. Installed , from both sides simultaneously, the engineering was so accurate that the final . piece slotted in with centimetre accuracy. The caissons are weighed down with sand to hold , them in place, but each block also contains hollow parts to provide new homes for marine life. The multi-textured finish of the caisson walls encourages algae growth and provides shelter for fish and molluscs. The idea being for the natural world to adapt to the new coastline as easily as possible. As project director Guy Thomas Levy-Soussan explained: “We brought in leading experts to design homes for people… But at the same time we brought in experts to develop reefs and homes for the surrounding marine life, too.” This is one of the reasons Mareterra stands out , from the other previous land reclamation projects. Monaco’s newest neighborhood is pitching , itself as an eco-village for the wealthy, a neighborhood that’s in touch with the nature surrounding it. In fact, the name Mareterra itself is actually a combination of the , Italian words for sea - mare - and land - terra. For complicated projects like this one, people with a huge variety of skills have to come together. To get these skills, effective , learning techniques can make all the difference. That's where today's sponsor, Blinkist, comes . in! If you want to broaden your horizons, Blinkist gives you a summary of the most , important information of over 7,500 non-fiction books and podcasts in just 15 minutes. Recently, I listened to “Get Better at Anything” from Scott Young and he breaks it , down into a very simple but powerful concept. To get better at basically anything, you have to SEE, DO and SEEK FEEDBACK. Step 1 involves gaining knowledge. With Blinkist, . you can learn about a wide range of topics, from biographies of fascinating people . to content about personal development. With Blinkist, you learn passively by absorbing information with little effort. Studies have shown that this helps you progress much faster when you then get to Step 2 - Put your knowledge into practice. And finally Step 3 - Seek Feedback. This , is essential for growth. So we are glad to read your comments.This helps us a lot as . we get new input that we didn't think of. If you also want to learn new things, join the 31 . million Blinkist users. By clicking on our link in the description or by scanning the QR Code, . you can now get 40% off Blinkist Annual Premium. And the best part is, you can try it for free for 7 days. So you got enough to experience how it will impact . your daily life. Give it a try, and thanks to Blinkist for sponsoring , this video. And now back to Mareterra. With the caisson belt in place, water was drained . out of the enclosure to be replaced by quarry materials as a base. Buildings started to go down , and at the time of this video, just 9 years since the underwater construction started, Mareterra is , months away from completion. In fact, the whole project is 8 months ahead of schedule, something we have never said on this channel before We’ve got to admit, it’s pretty impressive. Even though construction has been really . quick, the attention to detail has stayed consistent. And above ground, the focus , on nature as well as luxury has continued. You see, Mareterra is going to be , the greenest district in Monaco. Nearly half of the entire neighborhood will . be green space, with 800 trees and a huge variety of native Mediterranean plants. , Residential areas will flow into parks, promenades and plazas, and most of the , parking will be hidden underground, making Mareterra largely pedestrian. Parts of the , new neighborhood have even been topographically designed, creating a so-called “valley” where the public can escape from the city and be in nature. When it’s finished, these public green spaces will , be the defining feature of Mareterra for visitors But hidden amongst them, are the . buildings that ultimately make the entire project viable. These are some of

the most luxurious residences Monaco has ever seen, designed by the finest . architects from around the world. Once finished, there’ll be over 100 apartments and 4 townhouses, as well as 10 villas, each of which has been uniquely designed . by the buyers and their bespoke architects. But above all, the flagship , architectural piece is this, Le Renzo. Named after its designer, the , Italian architect Renzo Piano, the residential building is meant , to blend Monaco’s past and present. “Lasting architecture always tells an engaging story”, Piano told Architectural Digest in 2022. “A home, for example, is not just a roof or . a shelter. Rather, it’s a dialogue between those who live there now and the moments , that shaped the land before they arrived” He’s talking about Monaco's , history as a sleepy fishing village. Le Renzo is supposed to , look like a giant sailing boat, propped up on stilts to seem like it's floating . and so as not to block the view of the ocean. Inside, the apartments all . stretch through the building, meaning residents have views of the . ocean on one side and the city on the other. The smallest apartments are a crazy 370m2, meaning there are only 2 per floor, but that hasn’t stopped some people buying , adjacent units to combine into even bigger homes. The photos look insane but they , don’t tell the whole story. Le Renzo is also sticking to Mareterra’s , ecological goals. In keeping with the eco-design, the entire building , is heated and cooled by seawater. It uses a state-of-the-art energy conversion system known as a “thalasso-thermal loop” to control its temperature and heat its pool. The system “transforms the thermal energy of , the sea into heat or air conditioning”. It’s pretty complicated but basically seawater . is pumped into the building, passed through heat pumps which convert its thermal energy , into heating and air conditioning. Then it is returned to the ocean with no adverse . effects on marine life or water quality. The crazy thing is that this system isn’t just limited to Le Renzo. It’s actually part of a , bigger installation that will heat and cool all the properties in Mareterra and even extend into the neighboring Larvotto district. The designers go as far as to claim that this system alone will reduce Monaco’s greenhouse gas emissions by 7%! Sounds . good, but right now that's just a prediction. This isn’t the first time a system , like this has been used in Monaco, but Mareterra has been custom designed , with the thalasso-thermal loop in mind, making it much more efficient than , retrofitting it to older buildings. So what will Mareterra cost? As you might have guessed, all the properties . in Mareterra have been sold out for months. The exact cost has been kept quiet but resale . prices are already coming in at 100,000€/m2. At that price, Mareterra takes the title of most expensive real estate in the world. Putting the cost of the smallest . apartments in Le Renzo at $37 million and the 3000m2 villas as high as €300 million! The prices are crazy, but that’s what Mareterra , is going for. Insane levels of luxury. And considering every property was sold before they , were even finished, it seems like it's working. The reality is that the value of residential real estate in Monaco has risen by 60% over the last decade. Investors see an opportunity, as well as a status symbol. As do the developers. Which brings us to our last point - Who’s backing it? But before that, we want to thank you for , your continued support here on MegaBuilds. If you enjoy these videos, make sure to , subscribe. This helps us a lot! Thank you. Mareterra is a response to Monaco’s need for , land but also the business interests of those behind the project. The entire $2 billion budget comes from 9 exceptionally wealthy families, 3 from Monaco and 6 from other European , countries. Every new resident in Mareterra has been personally approved by the project , directors, showing just how exclusive the new neighborhood is but also how much , power the developers have in its final image. Mareterra is a necessity but that's because it’s mainly a business opportunity. And whilst Mareterra is being very vocal , about its environmental credentials, it might also be fair to say that the most . ecologically responsible decision would simply have been to never build the district in the first . place. We’re not judging one way or the other, and we haven’t seen any extensive . assessments of the whole project, but it’s just important to point out , that there are two sides to the coin. One thing’s for sure though. Mareterra cements Monaco’s position as the pinnacle of luxury. It provides much needed , land and accommodation as well as investment opportunities for the . country’s ultra-rich clientele. But what do you think? Are the apartments worth the crazy price tag? Let us . know down in the comments. We’ll be back next week with . another video. So until then, thanks for watching and see you in the next one..

Monaco's $2BN Expansion into the Sea