Ventilation of collective buildings in five stages

To ensure optimal ventilation, it is essential to implement a continuous, suitable, and efficient system. To ensure the installation and proper operation of a ventilation system in multi-family buildings, a five-step process is required.

Detect an anomaly

A faulty ventilation system can have direct impacts on the building, such as moisture buildup or insufficient air exchange, thus promoting the occurrence of disasters. It also affects the health of residents by increasing CO₂ concentrations, causing illnesses, headaches, and more. Sedentary lifestyles exacerbate this phenomenon, to the point that today, indoor air is more polluted than outdoor air. To prevent these repercussions, it is essential to intervene as soon as the first signs of damage appear.

Analysis of the situation

Once the anomaly has been detected in a collective building, the landlord calls on a design office to set up the project and agree on a partial or complete renovation of the ventilation system. This step directly influences the energy performance diagnosis (DPE) of the housing and proves complex, as it requires documentation on the installations already in place, which is currently difficult to obtain. Ventilation is therefore essential and, as an essential element of the thermal envelope, it should be integrated from the design stage of the building. However, this is often not the case, particularly due to a lack of training among professionals.

Choosing a technology that fits the problem

Next, the landlord or project manager chooses a technology that guarantees air renewal. This decision must take into account the challenges associated with renovating occupied sites, such as the cost and scope of the work, as well as less obvious aspects such as sanitary comfort, the noise level of the system, and its energy consumption. The quality of support throughout the project is also a key factor, especially given the lack of training among professionals in this field.

Installation of the ventilation system

This step is divided into two phases: recommendation and execution. To ensure optimal installation, the solution manufacturer must provide specific recommendations and ensure that they are followed during installation by the installer. Without this, the extraction unit could be overworked to compensate for a faulty commissioning, leading to excess energy consumption and premature component wear.

To avoid these problems, the manufacturer must support the installer during commissioning, or even take direct responsibility for it, to ensure the system's proper operation. Ideally, it should also raise awareness and train installers on ventilation issues.

Although this represents an investment, the benefits will be visible in the long term, during system maintenance.

Ensure the maintenance of the solution

This aspect is currently one of the main challenges in the renovation of ventilation systems. The reasons for this are a lack of documentation on existing installations, insufficient training of installers, and sometimes neglected commissioning. These factors can lead to consequences that can even lead to disasters. It is therefore likely that one of the main future challenges for the ecosystem lies in more rigorous commissioning to limit the difficulties associated with their maintenance.

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