HQE (Haute Qualité Environnementale – High Environmental Quality) is a French-origin International green building standard. It has certified 85 million square meters in 26 countries, over the past 20 years.
Example of the HQE certification (not official)
The HQE™ certification is intended for projects under construction, renovation or in operation, whether residential or not, as well as urban planning and infrastructures operations
HQE is a very exhaustive certification system. Indeed, it helps to evaluate not only the building performance through 14 targets in 4 categories:
- Energy (1 target),
- Environment (6 targets),
- Health (3 targets) and
- Comfort (4 targets)
The different evaluation categories of HQE
But it will also have a focus on the management system of the project, similarly to BREEAM.
To be certified, the project will be assessed by an HQE™ Assessor during the design phase AND the construction phase (going onsite).
The ratings of this standard is as follow:
Example of project rating (10 stars => HQE Excellent)
- No stars and achievement of all of the PRE-REQUISITES: HQE PASS
- Between 1 and 4 stars: HQE GOOD
- Between 5 and 8 stars: HQE VERY GOOD
- Between 9 and 11 stars: HQE EXCELLENT
- 12 stars and more (with at least 3 stars for the theme “energy”): HQE EXCEPTIONAL
An International standard adapted to local context
On one hand it is very exhaustive evaluation standard for green building projects, on the other hand it is also very flexible in terms of the way to implement or to reach a target.
There is no predefined norms or standards to follow to reach a target. As such, projects of all over the world can find a way to reach the targets with their local codes or standards, therefore HQE can be very suitable to local construction habits.
HQE™ Référent: what is the benefit for your HQE Certification?
Cerway trains HQE™ Référents to accompany customers and to lighten the certification process.
Indeed, as the HQE™ Référent is here to make sure all the targeted credits are well followed, it will make the work of the HQE Assessor lighter, and the certification process shorter.
One point to take into account, is that owners can get a discount on HQE™ certification fees if their project has an HQE™ Referent among their team/sustainability consultant.
Maxime Besseas is the first sustainable consultant at TERAO Asia who obtained the HQE™ Certification Referent credential, highlighting his expertise in green building strategies.
Our mother company also has two other HQE™ Referent in France and in Colombia.
By the acquisition of such accreditation, TERAO Asia team is taking a step forward toward increasing the capability available for any company that wishes to implement this standard in China or other locations throughout Asia.
You can find the HQE™ referent list in this website:
https://www.behqe.com/trainings-and-professionals/referentsdirectory
Find out more about HQE through this link, www.cerway.com or by contacting us :
- Contact our BD Manager Gaspard Lemoine-Scelles at glemsce@teraochina.cn
- Contact our HQE™ Référent Maxime Besseas at mbesseas@teraochina.cn
Our team would be happy to help you shape beautiful buildings of tomorrow integrating sustainability concepts and HQE™ certification since the beginning.
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