Sustainability certificates for residential buildings (LENOZ certificates) must be issued by:

• an architect;
• a consulting engineer;
• an energy consultant;
• a professional approved to perform technical tasks for the purpose of energy-related studies or inspections, and more particularly for the purpose of:
  • carrying out energy audits;
  • determining the energy performance of buildings and issuing energy performance certificates.

The certification covers 6 assessment categories.

Persons authorised to issue sustainability certificates are encouraged to undergo specific training organised by the Ministry of Housing (Ministère du Logement).

The Ministry of Housing publishes a list of all professionals who have received such training on its website.

Who is concerned

LENOZ certificates are issued by:

• architects;
• consulting engineers;
• energy consultants.

How to proceed

LENOZ certification

The certification covers 6 assessment categories (comprising 143 criteria):

• location: criteria relating to the location of the dwelling;
• social: criteria used to assess the social features of a multi-unit building and how the floor space is used;
• savings: criteria used to assess the energy costs for the dwelling;
• environment: criteria used to assess, among other things, the environmental impact of the building materials used;
• building and technical installations: criteria relating to the quality of the building and its technical installations;
• functional features: criteria used to assess the adequacy of the dwelling for its intended use.

The sustainability certificate is drawn up by the expert handling the file, and shows the building's sustainability classification:

• class 1: very high level of sustainability (4 LENOZ leaves), satisfying 85 % of the criteria;
• class 2: high level of sustainability (3 LENOZ leaves), satisfying 70 % of the criteria;
• class 3: good level of sustainability (2 LENOZ leaves), satisfying 55 % of the criteria;
• class 4: minimal sustainability (1 LENOZ leaf), satisfying 40 % of the criteria.

LENOZ training

Applicants are invited to register for specific LENOZ training.

The training covers the following topics:

• how to draw up a sustainability certificate;
• how to use the specific software provided by the Ministry of Housing to prepare a sustainability certificate;
• sustainability assessment criteria;
• the application for financial aid to cover the cost of preparing a sustainability certificate.

List of professionals who have completed LENOZ training

The Ministry of Housing publishes a list of all professionals who have completed LENOZ training.

Building materials and Lux EeB-H-Tool software

The LENOZ software is meant to be used by authorised experts – i.e.:

• persons whose professions are legally regulated by the Order of Architects and Consulting Engineers (Ordre des architectes et ingénieurs-conseils - OAI);
• persons who have received ministerial approval to issue energy performance certificates for residential buildings.

However, the software may be downloaded by anyone. The building materials data currently used in the LUX-Eeb Tool H+ software can be consulted in the document entitled, "Materialdaten LENOZ 2016" (in the table on environmental impact of building materials).

Who to contact