The French professional real estate market is undergoing a period of accelerated regulatory change. Between the European green taxonomy, the tertiary decree, and RE2020, real estate operations now require technical, legal, and environmental coordination that most project owners do not have in-house. This context is pushing an increasing number of investors, real estate companies, and local authorities to seek structured support in real estate project management.
European Taxonomy and ESG Reporting: What Project Management Changes
Since 2023-2024, several major French real estate companies like Gecina and Icade have begun systematically integrating the criteria of the European green taxonomy into their operations. Regulation (EU) 2020/852 requires demonstrating a project’s contribution to climate goals to access certain bank and bond financing.
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In practice, this means that every technical choice (materials, energy systems, bioclimatic design) must be traced, documented, and linked to a measurable environmental objective. The traceability of technical choices conditions access to financing. Without this documentary rigor, a project may be denied a green loan or a sustainable bond, even if its actual performance is satisfactory.
A specialized project manager structures this reporting from the design phase. They coordinate the design offices, architects, and financiers around a common framework, which avoids costly back-and-forth during the banking instruction phase. For operators who are discovering this approach, real estate project management support with Immogenius precisely covers this type of mission, from initial structuring to performance monitoring.
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Tertiary Decree: Planning Work Over Several Decades
The tertiary eco-energy mechanism, stemming from decree n°2019-771 and its subsequent orders, requires owners of tertiary buildings to reduce their energy consumption according to deadlines staggered over ten to thirty years. Field feedback varies on this point: some owners consider the initial deadlines manageable, while others are already experiencing difficulties in properly phasing investments.
Poorly calibrated phasing leads to either cost overruns or penalties. The decree indeed provides for a penalty mechanism for buildings that do not meet their interim targets, and the depreciation of non-compliant assets is beginning to be reflected in market valuations.
Project management support comes into play here on three specific axes:
- The multi-year planning of consumption reduction works, with arbitration between items (thermal envelope, HVAC, lighting, technical management)
- The establishment of energy monitoring platforms and recurring audits to measure the gaps between projected and actual performance
- The coordination between the obligations of the tertiary decree and the operational constraints of the building (tenant business continuity, lease schedules)
Without this global vision, owners risk multiplying ad-hoc interventions without technical coherence, which dilutes the budget without guaranteeing compliance with regulatory thresholds.
RE2020 and Energy Renovation: A New Type of Project Management Assistance Mission
RE2020, which came into effect for new constructions, has created a parallel need for existing buildings. The future regulation on the energy performance of existing buildings, still under development, suggests comparable requirements applied to the older stock. This perspective has created a new segment of project management assistance missions.
These specialized “low carbon” project management assistants intervene from the feasibility study stage. They assess the carbon footprint over the entire life cycle of the building, incorporating materials, the construction phase, operation, and deconstruction. This life cycle analysis (LCA) approach did not exist in traditional real estate project management missions just a few years ago.
For new construction operations, RE2020 imposes carbon thresholds that directly guide construction choices: wood or mixed structure, use of bio-sourced materials, decarbonized energy systems. The project manager arbitrates between environmental performance and budget, a balance that available data does not always allow to be determined with certainty from the sketch phase.
Real Estate Project Management and Quality of Execution on Site
Beyond the regulatory framework, real estate project management is primarily about coordinating teams and monitoring construction. The increasing number of stakeholders (thermal, acoustic, structural design offices, construction companies, technical controllers) makes the management mission more complex than it was for traditional operations.
A structured support system implements monitoring tools that allow for identifying planning and quality discrepancies before they become disputes. Site meetings, standardized reports, and reception procedures form the foundation of this operational management.
Field feedback shows that operations managed by a dedicated project manager significantly reduce amendments during the construction phase. The reason lies less in superior technical skills than in availability: a project owner managing their operation alongside their main activity cannot ensure the same level of presence on site or the same responsiveness to unforeseen events.
The quality of execution also depends on the ability to anticipate interfaces between trades. In an operation incorporating energy performance objectives, an air tightness defect or a poorly treated thermal bridge can compromise months of design work. The project manager ensures that technical specifications are effectively translated into implementation on site.
The French regulatory framework for professional real estate is not going to simplify in the coming years. The convergence between environmental requirements, financial constraints, and the technical complexity of operations makes specialized project management not optional, but essential for the success of an operation. Project owners who integrate this support from the early phase secure their timelines, budgets, and regulatory compliance of their assets.