The ventilation of collective housing is undergoing a change of status

Renovation, a truly strategic area for ventilation

France needs 242.000 additional homes per year[1]. To meet these housing needs, we must find a balance between renovation and new construction. While 379.222 homes have been authorized for 2025, they will not be delivered for several months, or even years.

Renovation then becomes truly meaningful, for practical reasons, but also for environmental ones. These buildings requiring renovation will need to be adapted to new uses that were not taken into account during their construction: teleworking, enhanced airtightness, increased energy performance requirements, etc.

According to CEREMA[2], approximately 69% of France's housing stock was built before 1988. Renovation has therefore become the core market and is no longer simply an alternative. In this context, ventilation becomes a system that must be adapted to existing, constrained, and sometimes heterogeneous buildings, as is the case, for example, with low-pressure mechanical ventilation. Its sizing, commissioning, and maintenance become critical.

While renovations, unlike new builds which are subject to the RE2020 regulations, only have a requirement to achieve specific means regarding ventilation, without a specific performance requirement, the approach is gradually evolving towards higher standards for actual performance.

The European Union is (finally) imposing performance requirements

European Directive 2024/1275, which aims to improve the energy performance of buildings, entered into force in 2025 and must be transposed into French law in 2026. This regulation changes the logic applied until now.

In particular, it establishes the obligation for Member States to develop a plan for the renovation of national building stock, supported financially and legally, with minimum energy performance requirements, and it strengthens the control and performance requirements of building technical systems, including ventilation systems.

Behind this bureaucratic and administrative language lies a very concrete reality: ventilation is entering a logic of control and measurable efficiency. Incorrectly sized, poorly adjusted, or poorly maintained systems will be more easily identified and monitored.

A major change for professionals in the sector and for the comfort of occupants.

Indoor air quality is becoming a lasting cultural issue

Since the health crisis, indoor air quality has been a central concern for occupants, condominium associations and operators in collective housing.

The occupants in particular have grasped the importance of ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ): more comfort, more energy efficiency and better health (in the face of chronic fatigue, headaches, irritation of the eyes, nose or skin or even respiratory pathologies such as asthma[3]).

While the French are gradually becoming aware of the importance of ventilation and the installation of ventilation systems, it is noted that some behaviors regarding indoor air quality are cultural.

For example, "lüften" or "regular ventilation" is a practice that is deeply rooted in the daily lives of Germans, day and night, in summer and winter.

Conversely, in the United States, it took a trend on social media to bring about the notion of domestic ventilation, with "house burping" ("burping one's house").

Ventilation is no longer invisible; it becomes an element of perceived and felt comfort.

The collective energy performance certificate (EPC) as a revealer of the flaws in poorly ventilated buildings

Once again, regulations will be another important lever for embedding good ventilation practices in the habits of occupants and operators. The new collective Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is a prime example.

At the individual housing level, the mandatory Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) has made energy efficiency a priority for condominium associations, operators, and owners. Since January 1, 2026, this requirement has been extended to entire buildings. Energy performance is no longer assessed on a unit-by-unit basis, but at the building level.

However, poorly designed ventilation can degrade overall energy performance. Conversely, a well-sized and properly commissioned system contributes to thermal stability and air quality.

Ventilation is becoming a discreet but strategic lever in collective energy performance assessments. Condominiums will have to integrate this dimension.

Towards a ventilation specialist with three roles: installer, repairer & maintenance technician

Although the ventilation profession is becoming more structured, installers are specializing and initiatives are emerging to promote the industry, including the recent creation of the French Ventilation Association, the sector lacks trained professionals.

In many cases, installation, commissioning, and maintenance are still compartmentalized. Tomorrow, expertise will need to cover the entire system lifecycle.

Where three people, three companies, or even three different trades operated, in a few years ventilation will become a fully-fledged, demanding and structured profession.

Until dedicated initial training programs emerge, skills development relies on continuing education and practical experience. The ventilation of multi-family housing is entering a phase of maturity.

Regulations, massive building renovations, societal expectations, and evolving professions: all the signs are converging. The question is no longer whether ventilation should be installed, but whether it will be correctly sized, commissioned, and maintained, given that it must operate continuously and with consistent quality. Only under these conditions will it truly contribute to energy efficiency, comfort, and the health of the occupants.

[1] Public statistics on energy, transport, housing and the environment: https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/besoins-en-logements-horizon-2030-2040-et-2050

[2] CEREMA – Datafoncier Documentation: https://doc-datafoncier.cerema.fr/doc/guide/ff/jannath-annee-de-construction

[3] Study from the Texas A&M University School of Public Health: https://ma-clinique.fr/la-qualite-de-lair-interieur-joue-un-role-majeur-dans-les-symptomes-de-lasthme-chez-ladulte

Tribune by Julien Bodin, Co-manager of MVN (LinkedIn).