Comprehensive renovations at all costs: this is the future, but we are not ready!

But does efficiency always rhyme with feasibility? Is imposing at all costs and very quickly a guarantee of success?

I am asking myself these questions at the dawn of the application of these new provisions.

Because in recent years, most of the energy improvement has been carried out by single actions of insulation, changing joinery, heating or ventilation systems. It is this work that has enabled hundreds of thousands of households to better control their energy bills and improve comfort.

So of course it doesn't make the headlines and the task remains immense to ensure that all French people live in decent housing. But at the same time we see that until now, the number of overall renovations actually carried out is extremely low. Besides, who has seen real comprehensive renovations of houses or condominiums in their surroundings?

So yes, large-scale renovation is the future, but it is a project that will take time to mature and build. Today it is a matter of the field, of companies, of coordination, rather than a matter of law or the direction of aid.

What all those involved in renovation are waiting for is rather that we accelerate the structuring of this sector. That we create exchanges and bridges between the different trades so that the work is carried out in the right order, in a synchronized manner, to truly be effective. That we facilitate the training and development of skills of artisans and that we favor serious companies rather than new players who take advantage of windfall effects and tarnish the image of the sector.

At 17, I was already installing exterior insulation during my school holidays. Almost 40 years later, our group produces a unique patented ITE solution, Origine France Garantie. Our Uniso France network represents more than 4.000 projects per year. And on a personal level, I remain committed on a daily basis to this movement to combat energy poverty which increases inequalities.

It is with this sensitivity that I also realize that the aid reform contains injustices

Let's take the case of a couple who are very committed to the energy improvement of their home, having practically finalized their renovation. If these “good students” want to complete their work with external insulation, from 2024, they will no longer be entitled to anything. While at the same time, the owners of a poorly insulated house classified E will be able to install a heat pump and obtain subsidies... Renovating requires consistency: let's insulate first, and only then, install a heating system which will be well sized, often cheaper and more effective!

I also fear that this evolution of the aid system towards large-scale renovations will discourage all those who live in old houses and for whom the very high remaining cost will become prohibitive, whereas in single actions, they would have renovated their home over decades. In this period of declining purchasing power, we must not shy away from it, the risk is real.

So of course, I repeat, comprehensive renovations are the future. But by directing all aid towards this work and by “prohibiting” single-action when it represents 90% of energy improvement, be careful not to reinforce injustices and not to precipitate an entire sector towards failure. Quite simply because the actors on the ground are not yet ready!

Tribune by Sylvain Bonnot, president of the Myral group and the Uniso France network (LinkedIn).