RE2020: strong concerns of the FFB after the latest government announcements

While RT 2012 advocated the use of gas and significant investments were made both to develop green gas and to maintain a quality distribution network, this source of energy will be excluded from 2021 for new single-family homes, then all new housing from 2024. Beyond the inconsistency of these political choices, this is the death announced in the long term of a sector carrying qualified jobs, a choice all the more more disastrous than the equipment concerned turns out to be produced mainly in France.

Regarding the materials used, the arbitration provides that in 2030 wood construction will become the standard for single-family homes and will be very commonly used for the structure of collective housing. If the FFB is in favor of an increase in the use of bio-based materials, it considers that, given the current market shares and the lack of visibility on French production capacities, this trajectory underestimates the necessary adaptations of the various sectors. .

In addition, the FFB deplores the fact that no information is given as to the thresholds applicable to tertiary buildings also covered by the regulations from next summer.

At the same time, the FFB regrets the lack of presentation of a global technico-economic study and does not share the 3 to 4% of immediate additional costs announced, largely underestimated. The risk of crowding out the poorest households is real. The FFB expressly requests a resumption of discussions to study more precisely and in a transparent manner the economic impacts in the short and medium term.

For Olivier Salleron, president of the FFB: “The political orientation, if it has the merit of being clearly displayed, lacks realism. We do not need to play sorcerer's apprentice in this time of serious economic crisis of unprecedented intensity, the first effects of which will be felt in the construction industry next year. It is wanting to add complexity during a year of economic recovery, ignoring the deadlines necessary to adapt the sectors. These are tens of thousands of jobs unnecessarily endangered, in industry and construction. ".

New affordable housing in danger according to Le Pôle Habitat FFB

The Pôle Habitat FFB welcomes the approach of progressivity in carbon requirements for 2024, 2027 and 2030. It regrets, however, that many thresholds have been set in the absence of comprehensive multicriteria analyzes, which are essential to measure their combined impacts on technically and economically.

Moreover, the choice to eradicate the gas vector in the very short term remains incomprehensible, at a time when considerable investments are being made to accelerate its greening and when alternative solutions are struggling to become competitive. In addition, the trajectory aiming to generalize in the medium term the use of wood and biobased materials for single-family homes and small collectives seems to underestimate the time limits within which such a revolution can be accomplished, both by the industrial tool and by through the fabric of local businesses and artisans.

Concretely, for the new house, a Bbio reinforced by 30% and a treatment of summer comfort, associated with the obligation to use heat pumps, will generate an additional cost of 10 to 15% from 2021. And for collective housing , the prospect of state labels prefiguring the 2024, 2027 and 2030 stages in the short term presents the risk of local outbidding to the detriment of affordable housing.

For Grégory Monod, President of the Pôle Habitat FFB, “if the orientations announced this morning are effectively reflected in the regulatory texts, buying new buildings will become tomorrow a luxury reserved for the better-off, unless the Government significantly and permanently revises its support. to new housing! This very morning, the High Council for the Climate recommends quadruple the public support mechanisms for the energy renovation of the existing fleet. The same logic must be applied for new construction. Without this, RE 2020 unfortunately risks being synonymous with low-income households giving up access to new housing and an acceleration in the fall in activity. "