Renovation of real estate in mountain resorts: an urgent need for collective action

Based on the stated political ambitions and the numerous technical and financial proposals enabling rapid action, the 250 participants declared themselves ready to mobilize collectively to meet the challenge of a comprehensive renovation of the existing building stock by 2034.

Adapting the mountain economy is essential for a sustainable future

The Le Meur law of November 19, 2024, which extends the rental ban on thermal colanders to furnished tourist accommodation, will have a major impact on the mountain tourism economy. From 2034, all furnished accommodation, existing and future, will have to display a DPE label between A and D. Without collective mobilization in favor of the renovation of this stock, the loss in the long term could reach 17 million overnight stays and nearly 3 billion euros of annual economic benefits for the territories[1], not to mention a possible domino effect.

The comprehensive renovation of buildings is more than ever a key project for the success of the transition in the mountains. While transport remains the leading emitter of greenhouse gases, the renovation of the building stock is just as essential for the successful adaptation of mountain resorts and maintaining a viable economy. It must allow for greater comfort, energy savings, and an intensification of uses, in order to avoid the construction of new buildings to compensate for the obsolescence of certain underutilized tourist structures (cold beds) to the detriment of the destination landscapes.

Aware that the economic future of resorts depends on making the mountains less dependent on skiing, political and socio-professional stakeholders are already committed to the transition and strongly mobilized around the challenges of responsible tourism practices. The evolution of mountain practices, combined with the renovation of existing real estate, are two powerful levers for redesigning a vibrant mountain, attractive year-round and generating new jobs, professions, and uses.

The Mountain Regeneration conference opened with a review of five years of experimentation in mountain property renovation alongside numerous communities that were already convinced and committed well before the legislative changes. It demonstrated concretely that stakeholders in the field have begun to develop intervention methods and tools to launch renovations that reconcile transition and economic dynamism.

The challenge now is to scale up these actions. It's about convincing co-owners on a larger scale, mobilizing them, and transforming constraints into levers: renovation serves their economic interests, while also providing the opportunity to requalify and intensify uses, and improve the comfort and quality of housing.

Concrete levers for a massive renovation of buildings

The round tables organized brought out concrete avenues of action to accelerate this generalization of renovation in the resorts, taking into account the specificities of the mountain real estate stock, made up mainly of co-ownerships in second homes:

• A clear political direction is needed to embody the region's strategic ambitions, secure the regulatory framework, encourage co-owners, and promote the benefits of building renovations. The economic and fiscal framework can also play a structuring role in this dynamic.
• Support engineering tailored to needs, because starting work is always complex, with the risk of abusive recourse. Dedicated support, in partnership with property managers and public decision-makers, shows that mobilizing co-owners is possible. Construction professionals, for their part, are ready and waiting for one thing: numerous construction sites to start quickly, with prefabrication processes adapted to climatic constraints and occupied sites. To reduce time and costs, work schedules will have to be optimized, and coordinated intervention across several co-ownerships could improve efficiency, pool efforts, and reduce costs by around 30%; operating methods already proven in urban areas.
• Innovative financing models, as public aid cannot be the sole source of support. It is essential to devise new models for owners: collective condominium lending appears to be a major step forward in simplifying procedures and smoothing out the financial burden. Other arrangements can be considered to secure owners' reinvestment based on performance obligations: energy performance contracts (EPCs), innovative hybrid models such as renovation-management leases, or third-party investment structures inspired by the tertiary sector. These are all opportunities to finance comprehensive projects, integrating energy renovation and usage performance. Leveraging part of the value generated by the tourism economy has also been discussed to supplement funds dedicated to activating this renovation. The exceptional law relating to the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Games represents a real opportunity to test these models on a large scale at pilot sites, and thus serve as a milestone before 2034.

The day concluded with a motion led by Jean-Luc BOCH calling for the continuation of this collective effort. Atout France was tasked with structuring an operational roadmap based on the creation of a new Mountain Real Estate Observatory and thematic collectives. It will set the objectives to be achieved within five years, as well as the technical and financial modalities of the future France Tourisme Ingénierie program dedicated to the renovation of real estate across all mountain ranges.

For Jean-Luc BOCH, President of the ANMSM (National Association of Mayors of Mountain Resorts): "The cost of inaction is out of all proportion to the benefit of action, both for the image and habitability of our destinations and for the construction industry. More than ever, the challenges are before us, and meeting them requires collective action. The partners who spoke at this conference are committed to maintaining and developing the momentum, and to making their best efforts to achieve this."

For Rose-Marie ABEL, Acting Director General of Atout France: "French mountain tourism will maintain its global leadership if it has renovated accommodations in a protected environment. This is a requirement for residents, customers, and all tourism professionals. Operational solutions now exist, so the priority is to create the conditions to enable accelerated deployment across all mountain ranges."

For Anne-Sophie BURTIN, Deputy Director of Investment at Banque des Territoires: "The Banque des Territoires is fully committed to supporting all regions and is working hard to ensure the mountain future. The sustainability of our mountain regions requires strong, collective action from all stakeholders—elected officials, the construction industry, property managers, and us, the financiers of energy renovations and tourism-related improvements to resort real estate."

[1] Source Atout France

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.