Two four-story buildings with 78 apartments, located on the foredune of Soulac-sur-Mer in Gironde, were constructed in 1967 and 1970. At the time, the beach was approximately 200 meters away. The building permit was issued on April 28, 1965, by the prefect of Gironde. By January 2014, the dune had receded to only about a dozen meters. The dune's recession was not constant, averaging 2.5 meters per year, or 5 to 8 meters during severe episodes. Storm Xynthia in 2010 reportedly caused a 15-meter recession. Reuters notes that by 2010, the ocean had already reached the dune supporting the buildings. After the storms of the winter of 2013–2014, an order for evacuation and prohibition of occupation was issued on January 24, 2014, and the co-owners had to leave. Coastal erosion reduced the 200 meters separating the buildings from the beach to only 12 meters over 45 years. The Constitutional Council ruled that coastal erosion was not covered by the procedures for compensation of natural risks. An amendment in 2018 finally released 7 million euros to compensate 75 owners at 70 percent of the value of their properties. The demolition of the building took place over three weeks in February 2023. The co-owners were evacuated but not expropriated. One question remained open, that of compensation. Article L. 561-1 of the environmental code covers a list of risks: land movements, avalanches, torrential or rapidly rising floods, and marine submersion. Coastal erosion is not mentioned there. A procedure of this type had, however, been carried out in Criel-sur-Mer, on the coasts of the English Channel, where the phenomenon was treated as a land movement. For Soulac, the ministerial response rejected this assimilation. The co-owners' association asked the prefect of Gironde to initiate the expropriation, and was refused. The Council of State then submitted a priority constitutional question on January 17, 2018. On April 6, 2018, in its decision 2018-698 QPC, the Constitutional Council declared that Article L. 561-1 is in conformity with the Constitution. The legislature was not required to extend the procedure to the risk of coastal erosion. The association invoked equality before the law and the right of property: without compensation, a property evacuated for the reason of erosion would amount to an expropriation without compensation. The judges rejected the equality claim, considering that the two property owners are in different situations. They also recalled that it remained possible for the legislature to extend the measure to other natural risks. The owners therefore had no right to anything. The Council of State confirmed this position on August 16, 2018. Meanwhile, the co-owners paid out of their own pockets the co-ownership charges, and some of the bank loans, for apartments they no longer occupied. Protecting the building was estimated between 9.5 million and 17 million euros, without total guarantee of effectiveness. An amendment, then a bulldozer. By the end of 2018, an amendment proposed to redirect 7 million euros taken from the risk prevention program. Adopted in public session during the examination of the 2019 finance law, it was not retained in a version of the text, the Ecology Committee not having been adopted by the Senate. The 7 million euros were finally released. According to Wikipedia, 75 owners received 70 percent of the original value of their property. These figures could not be cross-checked with the law text. The building was decontaminated in 2019. The demolition began on Friday, February 3, 2023, in the presence of government members, and ended on February 22. Behind a fence, neighbors and vacationers watched a bulldozer nibble away at the empty carcass. Nearly three weeks of construction to dismantle what two construction sites had built in 1967 and 1970. A unique case, for now. According to the authors of the amendment, no other French building was in this situation. Novethic recalls that rising waters concern 22 percent of the French coastline and that the Signal case could be repeated in other regions. At the time of the demolition, the government wanted to launch a consultation on the sharing of the financing of the compensation for the property owners. Soulac-sur-Mer has 3,100 inhabitants in 2023, and its village is just north of the disappeared building.