Hellio partnership and the Villes de France association to support local elected officials towards their energy performance objectives

The convention provides in particular for the training of elected members in the challenges of energy renovation of buildings, first and foremost the public park and its 192.000 buildings.

Local elected officials on the front line facing energy transition objectives

While 9 out of 10 French people believe that local authorities must play a leading role in the ecological transition[1], the energy renovation of public buildings is naturally one of the priority actions expected by local populations. According to an Ifop survey for Hellio published on November 22, 2023, schools are the preferred public buildings among those requiring energy renovation for 85% of French people[2].

Today, the public real estate stock is estimated at 192.000 buildings and 30.500 plots of land, for 94 million m2 of gross usable space. This also represents a significant source of expenditure for communities, since 76% of the energy consumption of municipalities comes from their buildings[3], most of which were built before 1975.

At the same time, elected officials, although perfectly aware of the priority nature of the energy renovation of buildings, do not necessarily have the engineering and financing essential to carrying out efficient renovation operations.

Expertise close to local elected officials

A specialist in the coordination and financing of actions to better control energy in France, Hellio partners with elected officials in their transition to the act of renovating. The company deploys tailor-made solutions intended for the public sector, and already has 2.000 partner local authorities. For example, Hellio has contributed to the renovation of 1.200 school buildings since 2017.

As such, the partnership agreement signed between Villes de France and Hellio intends to put all of the group's expertise at the service of the association's members. It aims to ensure a better estimate of the performance of their assets and the extent of their energy expenditure, while providing advice and recommendations regarding the renovation actions to be carried out as a priority.

For Gil Avérous, President of Villes de France and Mayor of Châteauroux: “The mayors of medium-sized towns are faced with the demands of modernizing their equipment, reducing their energy consumption, producing renewable energies… But they lack feedback on innovative products, financial arrangements, energy audits, recommendations and synergy work. It’s truly a win-win partnership that has been formalized between Hellio and Villes de France. »

“A win-win partnership” serving the energy transition

A true specialist in the challenges of medium-sized urban territories, representing 600 towns and 300 intercommunalities for 32 million inhabitants, the Villes de France association reinforces the role of medium-sized towns as a determining level of proximity for the harmonious development of the territory.

As such, Villes de France supports elected members, particularly with regard to the financial management of communities in the areas of ecological transition, energy transition and carbon neutrality. This is why the association has chosen to partner with a field player such as Hellio in order to ensure the promotion of sustainable development in municipalities and territories, and in particular energy savings.

The partnership agreement focuses on training elected officials on energy transition issues, raising awareness of eco-friendly actions and financing solutions available to communities. It also aims to support elected officials towards complete and integrated engineering solutions, from the upstream energy audit phase to the monitoring of energy consumption over time via the Hellio group's integrated design office, Akéa Énergies.

For Pierre Maillard, Chairman and CEO of Hellio: “We are delighted to support Villes de France and to offer their elected members concrete solutions in order to meet their energy transition objectives. We are keen to offer our support as close as possible to the regions, particularly in technical engineering but above all in the search for increasingly complex financial aid. Training will be one of the keystones of our partnership. »

[1] Source: Harris Interactive - Hellio survey, carried out online from October 25 to 29, 2019. Sample of 1.025 people representative of French people aged 18 and over.

[2] Link to the results of the Ifop survey for Hellio “Rural France facing the costs of energy prices”: https://www.hellio.com/hubfs/Sondage%20Ifop%20x%20Hellio.pdf

[3] Source: https://france-renov.gouv.fr/collectivites/renovation-batiments