If the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer taught us anything, it’s that sometimes excellence is not enough. You need to be at the very pinnacle of your discipline to even have a chance of reaching a medal position - you need to be outstanding. 

Elsewhere in the city, another contender has reached the podium by doing just that. The Odissy office building just southwest of Paris has become only the second building in the city to achieve the Outstanding rating from BREEAM RFO[1], making it one of the top three sustainably renovated buildings in France. 

It wasn’t always to be. At the design stage of Fidelity’s planned retrofit, the project was forecast to achieve an Excellent rating only. This would still have marked a dramatic upgrade to the 6,500sqm office space, which was undergoing its first renovation in more than 15 years. But our discussions with tenants in other buildings and with real estate brokers unveiled a big appetite from companies looking to let the most sustainable offices possible. Not only did they want to meet their own sustainability goals and to comply with regulation, but they also wanted to optimise the operational costs of their real estate footprint, especially given the rising price of power. Calculations suggested we could push our efforts to attain the top Outstanding rating for sustainability - overshooting regulatory targets by at least 85 per cent. It was an obvious choice to raise the asset to the highest standard of current market demand. 

The €15 million refurbishment plan has completely decarbonised the building, cutting its reliance on carbon-based fuels to zero, while also reducing its operating energy by more than 60 per cent. 

All in the detail

On a practical level, this entailed a complete regeneration of the building from basement to roof garden, with all of its systems upgraded to ensure that energy would be used in the most efficient way.

Looking at the reduction in the primary energy demand:

•  34 per cent came from switching out the lighting system to a more efficient LED network controlled by a building management system (BMS) which adapts lighting depending on occupancy.
• 62 per cent came from upgrading the heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, again linking them to the BMS. A new heat pump yields 5kW of heating from 1kW of electricity, compared to 1kW from 1kW of the previous model. 
• The remaining 4 per cent came from using best-in-class equipment for everything from the lifts to how hot water is provided. 

Even water is being used as effectively as possible. New hydro-efficient appliances are now in place, while a watering system in the garden uses a drop-by-drop process based on plants’ needs rather than irrigating entire flower beds. 

Embodying sustainability

The renovation process itself had green credentials at its core. The volume of embodied carbon - the emissions generated by the production, transportation, and installation of materials - from a building project can be monumental: almost one-third of the real estate industry’s carbon emissions are from this source.[2] 

On this project we were able to cut the embodied carbon emissions by 55 per cent compared to a typical office refurbishment in Western Europe.[3] Where possible, materials were reused on the site – all of the building’s false floors, for example, were relaid in the building - while 90 per cent of what had to be removed was recycled rather than being sent to landfill. Our design was simplified as much as possible to use the smallest volume of new materials. Where things had to be procured we focused on local and recycled products. 

Let there be light

The space had previously been on a long-term let and hadn’t had a refurbishment for more than a decade. When we first took the keys its partitioned layout felt old-fashioned and dark. By making the floors open-plan the new design feels airier. Common areas for workers have been created both inside and out - with green spaces, roof terraces, and even an open-air meeting room.

These adaptations make the building more attractive to tenants, but it also served an important function for attaining the BREEAM accreditation, which considers both the sustainability of an asset and the health and wellbeing of those that use it. Often, these two ambitions can be achieved with one element. For example, the upgraded ventilation system not only uses less energy but also enhances air quality, while better insulating materials in the open spaces mean there is less heat lost and less noise generated. Similarly, the building’s new innovative design encourages employees to use the stairs rather than the lifts - not only boosting their step-counts but also cutting the amount of power used.

But this isn’t the only legwork we’re expecting from the building’s tenants. We encourage them to use a power supplier with a smaller carbon footprint too - whether that’s through renewable energy that’s generated on-site, or buying green energy from external sources.  

The building already has smart metering installed so that we can collect, monitor, and analyse data about how energy is being used. Frequent meetings with the tenants will allow us to discuss our findings and support best practices. 

A podium finish

Not only is Odissy built for sustainability, it has already reached its 2050 targets for energy efficiency and reached its 2042 targets for carbon emissions – a pathway that could still be accelerated once a tenant commits to decarbonised energy. 

The renovations help the building meet its financial objectives too. Lower operational costs should mean that office blocks like this can attract higher prices from tenants or buyers, while also being let or sold more quickly when out to market. Thanks to the equipment and reduced energy consumption, the building is expected to cost two-thirds less per square metre compared to a typical office building. This saving will be shared between both the tenant (through reduced operating costs) and investors. An asset that has undergone this sort of renovation could expect to deliver a green premium of around 7 per cent, and in total this kind of refurbishment may increase the value of a building by around 40 per cent.[4] 

By creating value through decarbonisation, clever design, and green components, the renovation of the Odissy has transformed this space from a drab old office block to one of the most notable buildings in the country. A truly Olympian feat. 

[1] Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology For Refurbishment and Fit-Out 

[2] Demystifying Net Zero Buildings, JLL 

[3] Embodied Carbon for Western European Office Building, OneClick LCA 

[4] Buildings that go green: Making an impact while still making alpha, Fidelity International 2024