Île Ô Bois, Horizon Bois, O’Bois… The names of these real estate programs currently under construction in Rennes and its metropolitan area have the scent of the forest. Above all, they testify to the growing interest of builders in this material, long neglected in favor of concrete. In recent years, we have witnessed a boom in individual timber-framed houses, which now represent 12% of new constructions in Brittany. This trend is now spreading to collective housing under the impetus of the public authorities.
During the development of the local housing program (PLH) of Rennes Métropole for the period 2015-2020, elected officials expressed the need to innovate in the production of housing. In 2017, this resulted in the launch of a call for expressions of interest to promote the construction of wooden housing in the area. A dozen projects for a total of more than 340 housing units, not all delivered yet, were born from this initiative. Since then, demand has not weakened, as confirmed by Olivier Ferron. “This has been further accentuated since the last municipal elections where we witnessed a green wave”, underlines the general delegate of the association Fibois Bretagne.
A response to climate and energy issues
Faced with the challenges of the energy and climate transition, wood, an ecological material par excellence, has some advantages. Excellent insulator, it allows first of all to reduce the energy bill of housing. “It also has a low environmental impact and thereby contributes to the decarbonization of the building sector, which is a major challenge”, indicates Dominique Feuvrier, director of Ataraxia Promotion, which is carrying out the Île Ô Bois project.
Consisting of 111 housing units, including 72 collective, this program, which will come out of the ground at the end of 2023 in the Beauregard district of Rennes, is also intended to be quite symbolic since it will be the first all-wood residential building in Brittany. . “It’s a challenge, but we want to show that it’s possible to build everything in wood in the region,” he says. While the work is just starting, the marketing is starting rather well with “already more than 50% of reservations”. “The reception is very good on the part of the customers whereas we thought that there would be reluctance, in particular at the level of the price”, underlines Dominique Feuvrier.
Breton wood wants to play its game well
Because if it has undeniable advantages as a building material, wood is also more expensive. As a result of the health crisis and the war in Ukraine, its price has even soared in recent months. “But this is the case for all raw materials”, relativizes Hervé Boivin, wood construction coordinator at Fibois Bretagne. “And if we want biosourced materials that have environmental virtues, we also have to accept this idea of paying a little more,” he says. It’s like organic farming, it has a cost”.
If the health crisis has turned all sectors upside down, it has also accentuated the desire to consume locally and sustainably. A change in habits on which the Breton wood intends to surf. “We will of course not cover all of the demand, but the resource exists in Brittany”, assures Olivier Ferron, defending a sector which today weighs nearly 15,000 jobs in the region. “The prospects are good and it has everything to develop,” he hopes.
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