France has activated an important decarbonization lever by adopting an ambitious legal framework for new buildings. This new regulation, the RE2020, promises high energy performance workspaces that are also more pleasant to live in.
1 - Major environmental challenges in the building sector
In France, the building sector accounts for 44% of energy consumption and nearly 25% of CO2 emissions. The tertiary sector alone - including offices and retail outlets - is responsible for 15% of the country's energy consumption and 8% of its CO2 emissions. They also consume almost 30% more energy per m2 than residential buildings, and despite several tightenings of thermal regulations, final electricity consumption has been rising by 2% a year since 2000.
Office buildings are therefore an important component of energy management policies, and are directly affected by the new environmental requirements of the RE2020.
2 - What are the implications for the construction of tertiary spaces such as offices?
The environmental regulations for new buildings (RE 2020) will replace the 2012 thermal regulations (RT 2012) from January1, 2022 for residential buildings, and from July1, 2022 for office buildings. Renovations and extensions will also be affected, regardless of surface area, from January1, 2023.
It is within this tight timeframe that building professionals need to grasp the major differences between the RE2020 and previous thermal regulations. These changes mark a breakthrough in the construction sector.
The RT2012 thermal regulations already sought to make new buildings much more energy-efficient by limiting primary energy consumption to less than 50 kWh/m2 per year, whereas average annual consumption in the tertiary sector is 4 to 5 times above this threshold, at around 230 kWh/m2.
But, as its name suggests, RT2012 only deals with the thermal aspect of buildings. The RE2020 goes even further, not only setting even more ambitious energy consumption targets (zero primary energy consumption instead of 50kWh/m2), but also incorporating other major environmental concerns into its specifications.
In concrete terms, the RE2020 establishes 5 performance requirements. Firstly, reinforced targets and new calculation methods for the indicators already introduced by RT2012: optimizing the energy design of buildings (Bbio indicator), limiting primary energy consumption by taking into account the share of renewable energy (Cep indicators) and limiting discomfort in summer (Ticréf indicator).
Two new indicators have been added : limiting the impact on climate change associated with energy consumption over a 50-year lifespan (Icénergie indicator) and limiting the impact of building components, from construction to end-of-life, on climate change (Icconstruction indicator).
By adding these new indicators and modifying the thresholds and calculation methods of existing indicators, the RE2020 will :
- Obliging architects and builders to analyze the life cycle of construction to take account of its entire carbon impact, from the extraction of the materials needed for its production and manufacture, to its construction, operation, destruction and subsequent waste treatment.
- Encourage the use of less polluting bio-sourced materials such as wood, straw, cork, hemp, cellulose wadding, recycled textiles and sheep's wool.
- Schedule the phasing out of fossil-fuel heating systems in new buildings (which will also entrench their gradual disappearance in existing buildings).
- Make buildings more pleasant to live in, especially in hot weather
- Encourage the use of passive air-conditioning systems
- Encouraging innovation in the building sector to meet the challenges of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050
- Encourage architects and builders to get ahead of future regulations with a state label that goes beyond the requirements set(on the same principle as the E+C- label that prefigured the RE2020).
Precise threshold values for office buildings will only be set by decree at the beginning of 2022, which means that the RE2020 will not be applied to the tertiary and residential sectors.
However, a number of highly technical texts have already been published, setting out the requirements for residential and office building sites, and giving an idea of the efforts and skills needed to successfully implement the new regulations. In particular, thermal and environmental design offices will have to maintain a dialogue between the various stakeholders throughout the construction phase, to ensure that any modifications to the project on site do not compromise compliance with the RE2020.
3 - What are the expected benefits for workspace occupants?
- Substantial energy savings that will eventually offset the additional construction costs associated with the new standards;
- Greater well-being at work for occupants (with more natural light, more aesthetic materials, better indoor air quality, guaranteed thermal comfort in summer and winter);
- Attractiveness of the site and a better image for the company in the eyes of workers who share environmental concerns.