First published 2018 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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The rights of Géraldine Molina, Marjorie Musy and Margot Lefranc to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017952075

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ISBN 978-1-78630-149-9

Contributions and Acknowledgements

The writing of this work was done as part of a collaboration at the Institut de Recherche en Sciences et Techniques de la Ville, FR CNRS 2488. It comes after an exploratory survey carried out in the Tipee project, financed as part of a call for expression of interest by ADEME¹. To instill the work with an element of greater consequence, the authors sought to continue the survey of groundbreaking professionals and the analysis of the results obtained. The interviews were conducted by Geraldine Molina and transcribed by Margot Lefranc, the results of which were cross-examined with those obtained from observations of the participation and the visits made to active operations. In order to provide more interdisciplinary insight on these survey results and to conduct an analysis of the social and physical phenomena observed using a multi criteria approach, the analysis was thus performed by the three authors of this work: Géraldine Molina, Margot Lefranc and Marjorie Musy. This complementary work, spanning a period of 2 years, was possible thanks to the financial support of the Ecole Centrale Nantes, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Nantes and l’Institut de Recherche en Sciences et Techniques de la Ville (Fr CNRS 2488).

Therefore, the authors wish to thank in particular:

– the professionals who have instilled their confidence in us by providing us their testimonies and experiences during the interviews and visits. They have also taken part in the proofreading and the work of bringing this project up to date for publication. Additionally we wish to thank the professionals with whom we had exchanges during conferences or training in various contexts on research results, and who thus helped to enrich our analyses and to further confirm our results;
– the funders and partners of the Tipee project during which seeds of the project were sown, including Florian Battezzati, Adrien Dhalluin, Maxime Doya and Isabelle Calmet: they made an interdisciplinary introduction to the social sciences possible, and have given them a kind welcome;
– Ecole Centrale Nantes, the Research laboratory Audencia-Centrale Nantes Rn'B Lab, the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Nantes and the Institut de Recherche en Sciences et Techniques de la Ville (Fr CNRS 2488) which, after the Tipee project, supported the research. Naturally, our thoughts go out to Arnaud Poitou, Director of the École Centrale de Nantes, Jean-Yves Hascoët, Director of Research of the ECN, André Sobczak, Academic Director of Audencia and Miruna Radu Lefebvre, Director of the laboratoire R'nB Lab, for their warm welcome, their interest, and the support they have given us in this research;
– Christine Lamberts (ESO Nantes, CNRS 6590) for her precious help in the production of maps;
– the social science researchers to whom we presented our results, and with whom we carried out exchanges during seminars, international conferences and symposia, notably as part of the network Sociologie de l’Energie, or the more informal discussions we have had, including with Marie-Christine Zelem, Christophe Bernardo, Christèle Assegond, and Jean-Philippe Fouquet;
– the publishing house ISTE and the many people who collaborate with us, who have actively follow-up in the follow-up, the proofreading and formatting of this manuscript, in order to make its publication possible.

1 Tipee is a technology platform dedicated to building restoration and has been awarded the Appel à Manifestations d’Intérêt (AMI) (call for expressions of interest) from the ADEME, “Energy Positive Neighborhoods and Buildings and islands with a minimum carbon balance” as part of the “Investments for the Future” initiative launched by the French government at the end of 2009. Tipee is also funded by the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) and is part of the national Grenelle Building-Energy Platforms, from the Sustainable Building Plan. http://www.plateforme-tipee.com/plateforme-batiment-durable-tipee/Université de La Rochelle, LaSIE Laboratory, Agglomeration Community of La Rochelle, Cluster Eco Habitat, Novabuild, Alliance 2i, IRSTV, group Ridoret, CTICM, Eiffage Construction, Soprema, Ateliers Megumi & Associates, Saint Gobain, Cel, RCP, AIA Studio Environnement, Case Home.

Introduction
Building Professionals Confronting Energy and Environmental Quality Challenges: Outlooks on a Changing Field of Skills and Practices in France

The reduction of energy consumption and the improvement of energy performance are now critical goals for builders actively involved in the production and management of buildings, whether in the renovation of existing building stock or the construction of new buildings. A significant arsenal of standards, labels and certifications (the HQE, Haute Qualité Environnementale, and the RT 2012¹, Réglementation Thermique 2012, generalizing the BBC, the Passiv'Haus, Minergie, Bepos…) has been put in place to try to ensure greater energy efficiency in buildings, creating new constraints and fields of possibility for the building industry stakeholders.

Since the beginning of the 2010s, the evaluation of a number of pioneering operations and the widespread usage of so-called “high performance” solutions has been launched. As a result of this, many discrepancies have now been found between the theoretical, calculated, and expected energy performance for an operation and the actual nature of the results that can be observed in the field. The work presented here comes in addition to approaches taken via the evaluation of technical devices and systems, or works on the divergences between the expected and actual forms of building occupancy. It addresses this assessment by allowing the professionals who manufacture and manage these buildings to share their points of view.

This book presents the results of a survey conducted on French professionals engaged in specific implementations of high performance energy techniques in the building industry over a period of several years. We present the results of the survey of professionals, and a selection of testimonials from professionals (in the appendix). With roots in different and complementary disciplinary backgrounds (i.e. the social sciences, civil engineering and architecture), the three authors have thus compiled a crosswise reading of the processes through which the issue of energy challenges is brought up to date using specific cases in the production and management of buildings. The testimonials allow us to trace the biographical trajectory and create a profile of the interviewees, and then to review some of their main achievements.

Therefore, the first objective of this work is to provide the reader with deeper knowledge of the professional expertise, skills and practices’ evolution dynamics that are taking place at a time when a response is ordered to contemporary energy challenges (energy efficiency, reduction of energy consumption and energy transition), in the design, construction and management of the existing building stock. How should the knowledge, expertise and relationships among professionals and between professionals and others be reconstituted, and what strategic positions are observed among building professionals? Its second goal is to allow practitioners, teachers, researchers, students at architectural schools, engineering schools and universities of different disciplinary backgrounds to benefit from feedback and the reflexive efforts of actors, some of which arise as precursors and with the benefit of hindsight with regard to their practice. To this end, the approach taken involves bringing to light the practical problems encountered in the field by participants in the building industry, as well as the mechanisms and resources for the effective improvement of the manufacturing and management of buildings which they have mobilized in response to energy-related issues. These professionals question the processes of design, construction and management as well as constructive mechanisms, technical systems and the relationship with users and their ways of living in these buildings.

Chapters 1 to 3 offer the reader the chance to take a look at energy-efficient buildings: this part of the book presents the context of the survey conducted and its main results. The chapters focus on the stumbling blocks, barriers and the factors leading to failure, but also on the mechanisms and resources that enable builders in practical work situations to build energy-efficient buildings. A cross-cutting analysis of the feedback on the work situation and the professional’s careers allows for features that define the pioneers and the successes of the operations to be identified. To this end, this part of the book analyzes the competencies (knowledge, expertise and tools, relational and inter-professional dynamics) and the way in which they are updated in the practices of active members of the building industry.

In the appendix, we give the stakeholders involved in the implementation of energy performance solutions a chance to share their views and ideas. Their work is a testament to their critically important capabilities given their experience and the ways building and production are being reinvented, and in many cases, a keen awareness of the knowledge possessed and uses made by the building’s occupants. These actors carry out various activities in the construction chain (project owners, project managers, project administrators, designers, technicians, workers, maintenance providers, etc.). They work within structures that are representative of the diversity of the current manufacturing methods of buildings².

On the basis of their feedback, the challenge in creating this work is to question the logic of innovation, to shed light on the dynamics of learning and the renewal of professional skills. What are we able to learn from these stakeholders in order to think more effectively about the design and implementation of energy performance, in taking into account the constraints, practices, representations and perceptions of the participants in the construction chain, whether they are professionals or inhabitants? What are the mechanisms and stumbling blocks for more effectively bringing together the issues of lifestyles in the design, implementation and maintenance of buildings to ensure better energy performance?