HQE: a guide to the 2025 standards

HQE stands for Haute Qualité Environnementale (High Environmental Quality). Created in 1996, it is an international certification of French origin, with 140 million m² certified across 26 countries. It is backed by Alliance HQE and comes in two distinct standards.

HQE Bâtiment DurableNon-residential, Certivéa

For all non-residential buildings, in new construction, renovation and operation. Current version: V4.1, April 2025.

NF Habitat HQEResidential, CERQUAL (Qualitel)

For multi-family housing and grouped houses. Current version: V5.0, January 2025.

Where LEED focuses on energy, HQE puts the emphasis on occupant comfort and health, on project management (the SMO, or operation management system) and on economic performance, assessed on a whole-life cost basis.

The standard is natively aligned with RE2020 and offers an EU Taxonomy compliance attestation, which is useful for green finance.

HQE is by far the leading scheme in France, for both non-residential and residential buildings, and is well established in Morocco. It is present in 26 countries under the HQE International and HQE Bâtiment Durable brands, but remains less widespread than BREEAM outside France.

The two HQE standards are not structured in the same way. Choose your sector to display the details: your choice applies to sections 2 to 5.

HQE Bâtiment Durable V4.1 (April 2025) is organised around four commitments and twelve objectives, following a cross-cutting, matrix-based approach.

Quality of life

• Hygrothermal comfort (adaptive methods), acoustic comfort and visual comfort.
• Health: indoor air quality with measurements at handover (formaldehyde, benzene, TVOC, CO, NO₂, CO₂, fine particles), water quality, electromagnetic fields.
• Services: ease of operation, transport, amenities, accessibility.

Respect for the environment

• Carbon: RE2020 dynamic life cycle assessment (Ic construction, Ic énergie), energy-related emissions and a carbon footprint for hospitals.
• Energy: consumption across all building uses.
• Circular economy: reuse, resource audit (AGEC law), building adaptability (demountability, capacity to evolve).
• Biodiversity: biotope area factor, functionality indicator.
• Climate change adaptation: all climate risks addressed, comfort assessed under degraded climate conditions, urban heat islands.

Economic performance

• Whole-life cost, analysed over the life cycle.
• Contribution to the local area: local employment, short supply chains, social inclusion.

This commitment has no equivalent in BREEAM or LEED.

Responsible management

• The responsible management system (SMR), and the generalised management system (SMG) for building portfolios.
• Commissioning of the envelope, the building management system (BMS) and energy systems.
• Adaptability (ADAP): flexibility and demountability.
• The worksite: organisation, management of nuisance and pollution.

New in V4.1: in operation, the minimum level drops from E to F for some themes, but energy, carbon and management remain at a minimum of level E.

The main changes between the previous and the new versions of the standards.

The new framework no longer rates each target as Base, Performant or Très performant (Pass, Good or Very Good): an overall points system determines the level.

HQE is very strict about process. Unlike the declarative Anglo-Saxon approach, it requires independent third-party audits at key stages.

ProgrammeStage 1

Definition of the objectives and of the targeted HQE profile. Issue of the “Programme” certificate.

DesignStage 2, detailed design (PRO) and tender documents (DCE)

Verification that the design (drawings and CCTP specifications) meets the targeted objectives. Issue of the “Design” certificate.

ConstructionStage 3, handover

Verification that the elements planned at design stage have actually been implemented. Issue of the “Construction” certificate.

OperationStage 4

Two possible routes, described below.

The two routes in operation

One ShotCertificate valid for 3 years

A snapshot of the existing building at a given point in time, with an on-site audit.

5-year cycleAnnual certificate

Rewards monitoring and improvement over five years, alternating each year between on-site audits and document reviews.

Certification fees

Two cost items add up: the fees charged by Certivéa or CERQUAL, which cover registration and the visits of the third-party auditor appointed by the certification body, and the fees of the HQE AMO (owner’s project consultant), who supports the project from the brief to handover, studies included.

Additional construction cost and green value

Beyond fees, the financial returns depend on the level targeted.

Advantages

• On comfort and health, the most demanding and comprehensive label.
• Audits by an independent third party, which other certifications do not have, guaranteeing the actual quality delivered.
• Recognition by statutory auditors in France.

Limitations

• Lower international visibility: the label is less familiar to American or British investors.
• The formal requirements of the SMR can be burdensome, even though the first level remains very simple.
• Audit fees often slightly higher than for BREEAM, although the overall cost is not.

Reaching the higher levels does not mean chasing every point. The following table shows, by project type, how easily the points in each commitment can be obtained. It says nothing about their financial return, which is covered below.

To help you decide, we converted each commitment into potential financial value (rent, sale price, savings on service charges). These figures come from CBRE Europe studies.