How are tertiary buildings helping to speed up the environmental transition?
As a key indicator of economic health, the building sector faces multiple challenges: climate, energy, social, demographic… This central role draws significant attention from public policies, especially since, after transportation, it remains the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Europe, accounting for 36% of total CO? emissions and 40% of the continent’s energy consumption.
How can the environmental transition of buildings be accelerated? VINCI Energies Building Solutions has published a white paper intended as both an educational tool and a manifesto for companies and professionals in the real estate sector.
Building for biodiversity ????
To reduce the pressures on fauna and flora, restore degraded ecosystems wherever possible, and bring about profound changes in order to stop or reverse nature’s trajectory of decline, the preservation and promotion of biodiversity are becoming integral elements in the design briefs for real estate and infrastructure development projects. Regreening and nocturnal lighting are two of the major related action levers, in addition to certification and legislation.
“To work on biodiversity means thinking about living things,” says Chloé Chary , Senior Ecologist Project Manager at Greenaffair . “Enhancing natural ecosystems fundamentally depends on local environments, and often micro-environments. Development choices require precise preparatory diagnostics of nearby plant and animal species.”
???Interview : “Accelerating by reinventing our business models”
To make reduced greenhouse gas emissions a shared lever for cost savings and productivity: this is the vision VINCI Energies is pursuing in its facility management business, moving to make decarbonisation targets and tools key components in all its contracts. Pierre-Yves Dehaye , Facility Management Managing Director – South-Centre-East Region, at VINCI Energies en France , provides the details.
Environmental transition is an explicit priority for many large businesses. What levers can be applied through facility management or technical maintenance solutions?
Pierre-Yves Dehaye: According to the Sustainable Real Estate Observatory, the carbon footprint of an office building amounts to 9?tonnes CO? equivalent per square metre over its entire life cycle. Our facility management business is based on maintaining and operating buildings. The lighting, heating, climate control and water consumption required for buildings to function are naturally at the centre of the debate, along with their occupants’ lifestyles and uses. Our business units therefore have a role to play in accelerating our customers’ environmental transitions, both in terms of decarbonisation and the protection of natural resources.
Electric mobility getting connected with tertiary buildings
According to various predictions, by 2035, there will be almost 17 million electric vehicles on France’s roads, dramatically up from 1.1 million at the end of 2022. The revolution in modes of transport and the rise of electric vehicles in France underscore the need for a rapid expansion of charging infrastructure.
In the race to roll out charging stations, tertiary buildings have an opportunity to become vital links in the development of electric mobility.
?? Meeting the players in the environmental transition: Florentin Gaussin
To enter working life by creating one’s own role in a completely new field is a rare career opportunity.
Currently working as a Carbon Manager for a VINCI Facilities business unit, Florentin Gaussin is one of the pioneers developing a new professional role: the carbonologist, or carbon manager. This new role was created to address the challenges of global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and several dozen people already occupy the position across the network of VINCI Energies Building Solutions business units.
“This is a newly created role in which I have total autonomy, though of course, my business unit manager supports me day-to-day,” explains the 25-year-old engineer. “This new field, dedicated to decarbonising our own and our customers’ activities, is an exciting one! Business units are committing to this process, and our mission is to support them. We have to constantly try things and adapt accordingly. We are moulding a new professional role.”
Supporting the environmental transition in state-owned buildings
Because of the large-scale contracts it generates, the French government’s energy transition strategy for state-owned building stock requires a dedicated organisational approach from the companies involved.
Businesses specialised in energy performance in real estate assets are looking forward to a large-scale market with specific features. And VINCI Energies business units are at the forefront.
“First of all, VINCI Energies products and solutions address both the energy crisis and legislative requirements,” explains VINCI Energies director Patrick BORTOLINO . “Our business units dedicated to solutions for buildings are designing, installing and monitoring the performance of solar energy systems to unlock the full solar power potential of these buildings. This reduces their dependence on conventional power supply networks thanks to these easy-to-install systems.
If you want to learn more about our expertise in digital, environmental, and energy transitions, visit our online media: The Agility Effect ??
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1 个月Such an important topic!?Public policies targeting the building sector are essential for addressing Europe’s climate goals.