French term (edited): r�sidences pour travailleurs

Assuling that 'travailleurs' is no more nor less than people who work at the airport (rather than, say, building workers on a site there...), I think 'staff' is the appropriate word to use.

'accommodation' remains vague enough not to specify the exact type of building; you could got for 'staff housing' (which deosn't necessarily imply 'houses' as such!) or even, as another answerer has suggested, 'staff quarters'

I would only use 'blocks' (a catch-all term, cf. block of flats / apartment block) if the context requires you to emphasize the physical manifestation of the 'résidences' themselves: "the staff (accommodation) blocks are arranged in a semi-circle around the cafeteria'

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Note added at 13 hrs 18 mins (2005-08-17 14:49:18 GMT)
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In the UK, we tend not to use the word \'residence\' in this same sort of way, so it might be regarded as a bit of a \'faux ami\'

residence is somteims used as a pompous or euphemistic way of saying home: estate agents say \"desirable residence\" instead of saying \"over-priced house\", and we say \"residence for the elderly\" instead of saying \"old peoples\' home\"

We also talk about an \"artist\'s residence\", not referring to where they live, but the fact that they are the \'resident artist\' in this or that venue.

A common use of the word is in university \'halls of residence\'

In almost all these meanings, one might consider that it is closer to the meaning of the FR word \'logement\'

In the FR sense, which often means an apartment block / block of flats, or sometimes, a housing estate / development, it is in my exp. much rare in English.

Given the extar context that Asker has just added, that this forms part of the amenities of an improved airport, I would have thought \'staff accommodation\'\' was appropriate, without being too specific --- as long, of course, as it hasn\'t the alternative meaning as suggested by Bourth.