CALAIS PORT 2015 HEQ© BUILDINGS

The Port Entrance Building and the Channel users Services Building are both emblematic port buildings involved in the High Environmental Quality / HEQ© certification.

The NF HEQ™ Tertiary Buildings certification offers a distinction to buildings whose environmental and energy performances are in line with current best practices. In the building sector this is part of a more global approach defined as “sustainable development” applied to the construction of buildings.

This certification is related to the programming, design and construction phases for new and renovated buildings.

 

• The first topic of certification is related to the technical part: A benchmark issued by the CSTB gives performance targets and monitoring indicators in order to assess the environmental performance of the building considered. Assessment thresholds are required for each target and according to the hierarchy of environmental issues chosen by the Project Company, the technical, organizational and functional choices must respect them.
• The second theme often wrongly considered as secondary, is related to the implementation of an environmental operation management system (EOMS): It gives an exhaustive list of actions to be taken throughout the operation to set thoughtful environmental objectives and implement sufficient means to meet these commitments. It is also comparable to a quality control system for the operation by allowing the tracking of issued documents.

 

The environmental quality of a building is defined through its ability to satisfy three requirements:

1. control the building impact on the external environment;

2. create a comfortable and healthy environment for its users;

3. preserve natural resources by optimizing their use.

This environmental approach is also part of a more general search for the quality of constructions:

• architectural quality,

• functional quality,

• technical quality,

• sustainability, …

 

The 14 targets of the Tertiary Buildings NF HEQ™ certification

Green building
(1) Harmonious relationship between the building and its immediate environment
(2) Integrated choice of construction products, systems and processes
(3) Construction site with a low environmental impact

Eco-management
(4) Energy management
(5) Water management
(6) Business waste management
(7) Maintenance and sustainability of environmental performances

Confort level (for users of buildings)
(8) Hygrothermal comfort
(9) Acoustic comfort
(10) Visual comfort
(11) Olfactory comfort

Health (of users inside buildings)
(12) Sanitary quality of areas
(13) Air quality
(14) Water quality

The environmental quality objectives targeted by the Project Company were formalized through its commitment to achieve the HEQâ Excellent rating with the BEPOS label (positive energy building).