BBCA Awards 2025: Covivio receives the Tertiary Renovation award for its European headquarters, L’Atelier

The BBCA label was created in 2016 by the Association for the Development of Low-Carbon Buildings, which brings together more than a hundred players in the construction industry, including Covivio, one of its founding members. Today, this label is the benchmark in France for promoting buildings that are exemplary in terms of reducing carbon emissions throughout their life cycle.

This distinction rewards Covivio’s commitment to low-carbon best practices implemented across its portfolio, which is part of the group’s sustainable development strategy.

L’Atelier: an exemplary low-carbon renovation project

Formerly a telephone exchange, L’Atelier has been transformed by Covivio into a 6,500 m² commercial building. In line with its low-carbon strategy, Covivio opted for renovation rather than demolition, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of the operation.

L’Atelier combines simple materials (wood, brick, concrete), sustainable design, premium services and shared spaces, thereby optimising the building’s intensity of use. Previously 100% mineral, the building now incorporates 1,000 m² of outdoor space, half of which is planted with vegetation.

L’Atelier embodies Covivio’s CSR commitments, being aligned with the European taxonomy and having obtained demanding certifications and labels such as HQE Excellent, BiodiverCity and R2S, in addition to BBCA.

What factors drove this low-carbon refurbishment? 

• Compliance with the highest standards: choice of sustainable, high-quality materials (40 teqCO² avoided thanks to the use of wood products on site), use of recognised certifications and labels to engage all stakeholders in the project, implementation of practices aimed at reducing nuisance during construction.
• Promotion of the circular economy: beyond the restructuring itself, which is already a virtuous choice, emphasis has been placed on the circular economy, particularly in waste management, with over 75% of construction waste recovered and over 50% reused or recycled.
• Considering the operational phase from the design stage: moving away from fossil fuels by connecting to urban heating and cooling networks, choosing high-performance equipment and supervising the building using digital tools, promoting sustainable mobility, green electricity contracts, etc.