Build more, better and cheaper remains difficult according to Jacques Dufort

Batirama.Com 10/04/20180

Aimed at accelerating the construction of housing, the Elan bill is ambitious.Chairman of the LCA-FFB*product commission, Jacques Dufort, manufacturer in Aquitaine, regrets its lack of pragmatism.

On April 4, Jacques Mézard, Minister of Territorial Cohesion, and its Secretary of State, Julien Denormandie presented in the Council of Ministers, their bill "Evolution of housing, development and digital" (Elan)).

A very ambitious project since it is a question of building more, better and cheaper to create the famous "tender shock", to simplify the standards in the building, to promote social mix, but also to reform in depth theHLM sector ...

To know the opinion of the manufacturers on this future law, we asked Jacques Dufort to shed light on us as a dynamic professional in the sector.Our man is indeed not only president of the product commission of LCA-FFB*, but also president of the real estate and property company of Aquitaine (CIFA), a group which presents a global approach to the housing professions, working at thetimes as a manufacturer of individual houses, promoter and developer, goods dealer and trustee.

Faced with the bill, Jacques Dufort welcomes several provisions in the first place."A real political will seems to be born about abusive appeals against building permits" (30,000 constructions are today blocked in France due to abusive recourse).The law indeed imposes the justification of real damage, while the sanctions are reinforced and the procedures better supervised and accelerated, going from 24 to 10 months on average.

Pragmatism on accessibility rules for disabled people

The dematerialization of building permits and the governance of major town planning operations focused on intercommunality also won its membership, as well as the reduction of accessibility standards for the disabled.The law establishes a quota of 10 % of apartments that meet these requirements.

"It thus obliges manufacturers to make all the new housing evolving, that is to say that can be made completely accessible by simple work to respond to situations of disability, loss of autonomy or aging," explains Jacques Dufort.

Today, 100% of new housing must be fully accessible to people with disabilities from construction, when they will not all be inhabited by disabled people.This is excessive, especially since you can build adaptable accommodation for a minimal additional cost ".

However, apart from these few points, certain grievances emerge from the president of the CIFA."We are witnessing the return of old catch -ups which are more of the order of pious wishes.Thus, we are asked to build better and cheaper.However, with RT 2012, we cannot build the cost of construction without bidding, while we have to face great competition: there are therefore limits that we cannot exceed ”.

The social mix in question

Another subject of question: the demand for social diversity: "Mixity seems particularly difficult to me in individual houses (which is perhaps less the case on promotion).In our sector, with a price of € 1000/m2, it is not possible to do social.In addition, is this idea well in line with everyone's needs?"Asks Jacques Dufort.

"Besides, we of course appreciate the desire to release land.For our part, in Aquitaine and in the Bordeaux metropolis, we see a real prices outbreak and we are witnessing a real land shock with 1% inflation per month!But Bordeaux is historically a model of urban densification based on the individual house (Bordeaux shop) with small plots ».

A reality insufficiently taken into account

"The manufacturers are in Real Politics and do not wait for policies to work in the field.As an example, in terms of air quality, one of the battle horses of the public authorities, we have been offering plasterboards that improve the indoor air in the houses for two years: wedid not wait for a law to act in this direction!

It thus seems that reality comes up against political will and it would be good for the public authorities to adopt more pragmatism ... For example, the PLUs voted legally must be respected to the letter and not interpreted as it is too often the case ".

* Manufacturers and developers of the French Building Federation

Source: Batirama.Com / Michèle Fourret