The Office Green View in France

In recent months, CBRE has conducted a thorough analysis of sustainable real estate in 10 key cities in France spanning Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Strasbourg, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice.

The map shows the prominence of green real estate for each city in terms of the size (in sq m) of office premises that benefit from either an energy label (BBC, Effinergie, HPE), a renovation/construction High Environmental Quality (HQE) certification or an HQE currently in use certification.   The key trends as follows:   Construction / Renovation Certifications

• Almost half of the HQE certified buildings in Paris also have an energy label
• In contrast, in all other cities - during the construction or renovation of a building  - owners prefer to obtain an energy label rather than an HQE certification. One likely reason is that energy labels are often less labour intensive to acquire and are a cheaper approach.

In Use HQE Certifications

• Impressive increase of its use in the last 3 years, particularly in Paris – over 1 400 000 sq m is certified
• However, in other cities such as Nice, Marseille, Strasbourg and Nantes, it remains non existent

In summary, the city of Paris is leading the ‘green charge’ when it comes to green real estate activity. Its Central Business District (CBD) is evolving which may be a surprise to some given its lack of land for development and its Haussmann-style buildings. It’s clear in recent years, owners in the CBD are increasingly integrating sustainable development solutions into their property policies. Likewise, in La Défense region of Paris the HQE certification process for new properties continues to be widely adopted.   There is no reason why, in the future, Nice, Marseille, Strasbourg and Nantes cannot follow the lead set by Paris.