New apartments: fire safety, accessibility and environmental regulation 2026

A collective residential building means any building containing more than two dwellings one above another. Fire regulation distinguishes several families by the height of the lowest floor of the highest level: the first family covers buildings up to 8 m with one or two dwellings; the second covers blocks up to four storeys; the third runs to 28 m; the fourth to 50 m; and above 50 m the high-rise regime applies, covered in its own article.

The classification directly governs the requirements on structure, compartmentation, smoke control and fire service access. Family 3A covers blocks whose lowest floor of the highest habitable level sits between 8 and 28 m, with fire service access from a road. Family 3B requires façades accessible to ladders on at least two opposite faces. Family 4, above 28 m, imposes enclosed stairs, dry risers and protected waiting areas for people with reduced mobility within the stair enclosure.

Every apartment building requires planning permission, filed with the municipality. The ordinary determination period is two months for a house but three for other buildings, including apartment blocks. Within a heritage perimeter it becomes four months where the opinion is advisory and five where it is binding. Floor area has been calculated since 2012 as the sum of enclosed and covered areas under a height above 1.80 m, measured to the internal face of the façades, deducting parking, cellars and balconies, plus a flat 10 % deduction for apartment buildings.

ℹ Certificates mandatory with the application → An environmental regulations certificate, supplied by the design team. → An accessibility certificate: compliance in design, verified at completion by a third party. → In a seismic zone of the second class or above: a ground survey and a certificate that the seismic rules have been taken into account.

The local plan fixes the prospect rules — often half the height against a blank façade, a third at a boundary — the maximum site coverage, the green space coefficient and, since the 2021 climate act, objectives of no net land take that constrain projects on undeveloped ground. Site coverage coefficients were abolished in 2014, but some municipalities maintain density rules through height or coverage prescriptions.

Fire regulation for residential buildings is set by the order of 31 January 1986 as amended. Its requirements differ fundamentally from those for buildings open to the public: there is no mandatory safety commission before occupation, unless the block contains a public-facing unit at ground level, but the technical controller verifies compliance during design and construction.

For family 3 and 4 buildings, floors are at least REI 60 between habitable levels and REI 120 in basements. Façade walls between dwellings must achieve at least EI 30. Partitions between dwellings are REI 60. Service risers must be fire-separated to 30 minutes from the dwellings. The rule on vertical fire spread that applies to buildings open to the public does not apply to housing, but a 0.50 m separation is required in the façade between the windows of adjacent dwellings.

Smoke control of the common circulation — corridors, halls — is mandatory from family 3. It may be natural, through high-level windows, or mechanical. Enclosed stairs are pressurised or ventilated naturally through high-level openings, with a smoke vent of at least 1 m² or a roof light. In basements, mechanical smoke control is mandatory as soon as the area exceeds 100 m² or where there is parking.

Accessibility in housing is set by the order of 24 December 2015, which replaced the 2007 text. It distinguishes visitable, adaptable and accessible dwellings. Since 2015, every ground-floor dwelling and every dwelling served by a lift must be accessible or adaptable, according to the size of the building.

ℹ Thresholds for a mandatory lift → From the second upper floor, where a habitable floor sits more than 3 m above ground: a lift is mandatory. → From the first upper floor where there are more than 15 dwellings above ground level, or 20 under some local plans. → Adaptable dwellings: a 90 cm functional horizontal route, an accessible WC, an adaptable shower. → Accessible dwellings: 0.90 m clear door opening, a 150 cm turning circle, a bathroom of at least 5 m².

Common parts — halls, corridors, landings, cycle and bin stores — must respect a minimum width of 1.20 m for principal circulation and 0.90 m for secondary. Lift buttons and entryphones sit between 0.90 m and 1.30 m above the floor. Communal parking includes at least 2 % of accessible spaces, with a minimum of one per 50.

The environmental regulations, in force from 1 January 2022 for apartment buildings, replaced the previous thermal standard. They introduce three major indicators: the bioclimatic need, tied to compactness and insulation; primary energy consumption; and the carbon impact of energy. They add an indicator measuring the carbon impact of the materials across the whole life cycle.

For apartment buildings the regulations mechanically favour bio-based materials — timber, straw, cellulose — with their low construction carbon. Heat pumps, communal or individual, have become almost systematic in order to meet the non-renewable energy threshold, since gas boilers have been prohibited in new buildings since 1 January 2022. Heat-recovery ventilation with an efficiency of at least 75 % is the most common solution for controlling the bioclimatic indicator.

ℹ Points of vigilance Thermal bridging at continuous slabs: internal insulation is penalised on the bioclimatic indicator, so external insulation or a broken intermediate floor is preferable. Summer overheating: solar protection is mandatory on south and west façades — external blinds, brise-soleil, planting. Carbon assessment: standard reinforced concrete is penalised, so low-carbon cement, timber structure or a mixed timber and concrete structure should be considered. The compliance certificate is required with the application: a frequent error is for the client not to instruct the design team to produce it.

Estimating a new apartment building must take in, beyond the structural cost, a series of items arising directly from the regulatory constraints. Field experience gives indicative ratios the economist adjusts for the site, the brief and the constructional choices.

ℹ ✔ Summary for the economist Typical budget for a new apartment building, excluding land and external works: 1,630 – 2,450 €/m² of floor area according to standing and location. Estimated premium of the environmental regulations against the previous standard: + 3 to + 8 % according to structure and energy system. A lift mandatory from the second upper floor: a structuring item to anticipate at brief stage. Adaptable dwellings: a slight design premium through pre-drilling and provisions, with a negligible works premium below 1 %. The economist must obtain the local plan and the ground survey before any serious pricing.

Accessibility standards in apartment buildings are developed in the accessibility article. Detailed fire regulation — resistance to fire, smoke control, dry risers — is treated in the fire safety article. Floor area calculation and determination periods are explained in the planning article. The environmental regulations are developed in full, including the life-cycle indicators, in their own article. For buildings above 50 m, see the high-rise article. The residential block article covers apartment buildings from a broader technical angle, complementing this one focused on regulation.

ℹ The construction economist on demand. Your apartment building deserves an estimate that builds in every regulatory constraint from the brief. Submit your file on quostra.com and a construction economist prices the accessibility, environmental, fire and structural impacts within hours.

Sources: the construction and housing code, the order of 31 January 1986 as amended, the order of 24 December 2015 on accessibility in housing, the environmental regulations decree of 29 July 2021, the planning code, Eurocode 2, and the national building research centre's guidance on apartment buildings.

Reference basis of the figures

The ratios per square metre and per item on this page are stated in January 2026 values. They were updated from January 2025 values, the basis adopted for the whole cocoon, using the BT01 all-trades index published monthly by INSEE on its 2010 base: 132.0 in January 2025, 134.7 in January 2026, a coefficient of 1.0205.

The global amounts quoted as examples, and any rents, charges or receipts expressed per year or per night, remain on their own basis: a building cost index does not apply to them.

To bring the ratios forward, apply the usual revision formula: updated value = page value × (BT01 for the month in question / 134.7). The BT01 measures contractors' input costs, labour at 44.9 % and materials at 36.5 %, not the prices actually tendered.

• New individual houses