Encouraged by ambitious legislation, the regions are embarking on major transformations to reduce their energy consumption within imposed deadlines. Among them, the region of Corsica has chosen to work with Oxand and has launched the deployment of Oxand Simeo™ to help it draw up the renovation roadmap for its education sites. We asked Alain Fichou, Director of Education Infrastructure, to tell us about the issues his region is facing and what he expects from the partnership with Oxand.
Education buildings in the Corsica Region
The region of Corsica’s educational property portfolio consists of collèges (middle school) and lycées (high school), unlike the regions of France, which are only responsible for lycées. Mr Fichou is therefore responsible for the 47 schools, a total of 160 buildings, managed by the local authority. The objectives he is aiming to achieve are the progressive targets set by the “Décret Tertiaire” law. The regulations require a 40% reduction in the absolute energy consumption of buildings by 2030, a 50% reduction by 2040 and a 60% reduction by 2050.
The first steps taken to reduce energy consumption
For a few years now, the Collectivité de Corse has been working on reducing energy consumption in its schools through “Quick Win” actions. These actions, which require little investment, are already leading to early energy savings in a very short space of time. For example, it may involve reducing electricity consumption in lighting, either by replacing switches with detectors or by installing lamps that consume less electricity. A ‘Quick Win’ action can also target the behaviour of building users, through awareness-raising campaigns to reduce water or electricity consumption in particular. Corsica has therefore initiated its energy transformation on its own, before embarking on changes in the structure of its buildings, to have a greater impact on its energy consumption.
Ambitious targets set by the “Décret Tertiaire” Law
In order to achieve the objectives of the “Décret Tertiaire”, changes to the structure of the buildings will have to be made, which will be more involving and costly than “Quick Win” actions. This is why the Collectivité de Corse has been asked to provide a multi-year energy renovation plan, which is meant to specify the energy policy objectives, identify the challenges and risks in this area, and guide the work of the various public players. Mr Fichou and his team are currently working on this energy renovation programme for buildings, which will plan actions from 2024 to 2029.
The beginnings of the collaboration with Oxand
In order to draw up this programme, Corsica called on Oxand in June 2023. The main pre-requirement for the production of this plan is the existence of a report assessing the current state of the building stock. Thanks to the inventory compiled in collaboration between Corsica and Oxand’s consultants, and following the simulations of ageing produced by Oxand Simeo™, the region will be able to project the state of its buildings and their energy performance in the future. Oxand Simeo™ will also be used to generate scenarios that will enable Corsica to assess the costs of potential renovations. For the Corsican authorities, Oxand Simeo™ is a decision-making tool that will enable them to anticipate and prioritise investments worth millions of euros. As a result, Corsica will be able to draw up its PPI more efficiently and accurately.
“We were convinced by the pre-deployment we did with Oxand. Oxand Simeo™ provides us with a precise study that enables us to estimate our energy performance over time, but this study remains sufficiently broad to enable us to manage 380,000m² of property. This helps us to be more efficient in the time-consuming tasks involved in drawing up the PPI.” Mr Fichou
Ongoing and expected results
Once the different strategies have been simulated by the tool, the teams can anticipate the maintenance and energy improvement actions needed to achieve the objectives of the tertiary sector decree. The operations decided following the software simulations will be included as of the next PPI.
In Corsica, a number of projects are already underway, including three energy renovation projects. These involve one of Bastia’s secondary schools (change of heating production method, building envelope, etc.), the Lycée agricole in Sartène and the INSPE (Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et de l’Education) in Ajaccio. In addition, several projects to replace oil- or gas-fired heating systems with biomass heating systems are currently under study or under construction.