They do not escape the wave. Like their counterparts from Agro Paris Tech, HEC or other Grandes Ecoles who have expressed their expectations and concerns during graduation speeches, the new generation of building engineers has different ambitions from those of his elders. “Salary is no longer the main motivationobserves Joël Cuny, Director General of the Special School for Public Works, Building and Industry (ESTP Paris) and General Delegate of the Network for Higher Education in Construction. Today, engineers want to join a company linked to environmental issues and consistent with their values. It is a phenomenon that is both very present and very recent. If they are aware that companies obviously cannot change overnight, they at least attach importance to a speech of sincerity. »
This is how Loïck Rauscher Lauranceau, 25, a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Nancy, preferred to turn away from the large group to which he was applying. When, in an interview, to the ritual question on the qualities of the candidate, the young man declared to be honest and defend ecology, he felt the slight discomfort of his interlocutor. “Nevertheless, I was told that if I wanted to install recyclable bins in the offices, they would support me”, he notes ironically. Sarah (some of our interlocutors requested anonymity), 22 years old, in her fifth year at Centrale Nantes, noticed, during an internship in a major design office, “that it was difficult to change things from the inside”.
As for Antoine, 27, a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines in Albi, he preferred to quit his job in a large engineering design office, yet claiming a green fiber. “The tendency to ‘greenwash’ bothered me. Systematically, our managers told us that we had to respect the customer’s wishes. That if he did not want to engage in a more frankly ecological approach, he should not be forced. The fear of losing him was too great. » In a period of reflection after a burnout, Antoine plans to convert to teaching, managing a board game bar or energy renovation.
“The tendency to do ‘greenwashing’ bothered me”, Antoine, graduate of Mines d’Albi
Energy renovation. The words are dropped. As Dominique Naert, director of the specialized master’s degree in “real estate and sustainable buildings” at the Ecole des ponts Paris Tech, reminds us, by 2030, twenty million homes will have to be renovated. “We are experiencing a real constructive revolution, with the energy renovation plan, the RE 2020, the extension of the anti-waste law for a circular economyhe points out. We know that many buildings are energy intensive. And that comfort has been called into question by the cold, the heat. We have been through a pandemic that has caused suffering in housing. There are things to do! »
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