A new guide for the HQE Planning approach

A reference work, published in 2010 by the HQE-GBC Alliance, to help manage sustainable development projects, the guide to the HQE Planning approach has been given a facelift. If the fundamentals of project management remain, this new version takes into account both the four commitments of Sustainable Building for all (quality of life, respect for the environment, economic performance, responsible management) and the new challenges that wish to respond developers: circular economy, urban agriculture, resilience, digital ...

Establish the fundamentals

Result of a new collaboration between the different partners^[1] at the origin of the first HQE Planning guide, the updated edition reaffirms the fundamentals on which the approach is based: a structuring and operational approach based on quality requirements including the couple "developer + community" is at the heart.

Generic method that can be adapted to all types of development operations and be supported by all types of actors, public or private, the HQE Development approach is "a project management approach" and in no case a rigid frame.

It offers a common language, a structure for conducting operations and continuous evaluation, from the launch phase to that of the balance sheet. The challenge is to succeed in reconciling all the imperatives of sustainable development.

It is made up of two inseparable elements:

• An operation management system (SMO) which provides in particular for the organization of steering, participation and evaluation throughout the project;
• A thematic approach to analyze the site and define the objectives of the sustainable development project.

Philippe VAN DE MAELE, President of the HQE-GBC Alliance underlines:

“In the construction and development sector, performance is no accident and there are many solutions. This is why, project management is key! The HQE Aménagement approach meets this objective. It is a practical tool that helps communities and developers to define sustainable development projects. Project management allows a real contextual approach whatever the operation, its scope, its size or its procedure, thus favoring the taking into account of its specificities for sustainable development. "

Integrate new challenges

This new edition of the guide, published in 2010, highlights the evolution of the thematic framework of the HQE Planning approach to harmonize it with that of sustainable building for all, designed in 2015.

In order to design a coherent project as a whole, this new multi-criteria approach is structured around 4 major commitments (quality of life, respect for the environment, economic performance and responsible management), carrying 19 new themes. They make it possible in particular to take into account the growing concerns of developers such as the circular economy, resilience, urban agriculture or digital technology.

This adaptation aims to help the actors to coordinate and pool their interventions at different scales of action, from the building to the territory through infrastructure and operational planning. A synergy necessary to promote the ecological, societal and digital transitions of the built environment.

The updated version of the HQE Aménagement guide and its thematic approach has been coordinated with the evolution and harmonization of the HQE Aménagement ™ and HQE Infrastructures ™ certifications carried by Certivéa to better meet the challenges of sustainable territories.

Leverage the complementarity of tools

Whether management, decision-making, design or labeling assistance, different sustainable development approaches co-exist on the market today. Each with its specific features supports the owners and their operators in the creation of sustainable neighborhoods.

Acting in the general interest, the HQE-GBC Alliance is taking advantage of the new edition of its guide to remind the complementarities, on the same project and for different purposes, of the 3 tools to be associated for a sustainable city: the EcoQuartier label of the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion, the Environmental Approach to Urban Planning of ADEME (AEU2) and the HQE Aménagement certification issued by Certivéa.

A new educational guide for better information transmission

Over the 48 pages of the guide, the HQE-GBC Alliance has endeavored to produce a new clear, synthetic, graphic and didactic tool.

• In terms of the SMO - Operation Management System - and for each of the 6 phases of a project, the guide offers advice, a list of deliverables and tools accompanying the recommendations on the process, management, participation and evaluation.
• In the second part, dedicated to the thematic approach of the HQE Planning approach, the guide illustrates with concrete examples the possible sustainable development actions.

Philippe VAN DE MAELE, President of the HQE-GBC Alliance specifies:

"Beyond the publication of its reference framework for operational planning, the HQE-GBC Alliance continues its work and reflections on evaluation to support stakeholders in the necessary transition, from the logic of means to that of results in line with expectations but also realities on the ground. This is particularly the case with the first experiences of the HQE Performance Neighborhood Test and other partnership initiatives in which it wishes to register. "

Download the guide: click here

^[1]The HQE Aménagement guide is the result of a multi-stakeholder collaboration associating representatives of ADEME, CINOV, CSTB, the Federation of EPL, OGE, UNAM, UNSFA and the USH.