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Building a new home in Brussels? It must be near zero energy, with no gas boiler

For permits applied for from April 2024, a new Brussels home may use at most 45 kWh of primary energy and need at most 15 kWh for heating per m² a year. Gas and oil boilers are banned for permits from 2025.

Brussels · Subject to change

Sources checked on · next check by . Check the source before you act.

Building rules (EPB, EPC)Level 5 · Deep renovationCost: Over €25,000Weeks or months

In Brussels, the PEB rules for works set the level a new home must reach. They depend on the date you file the planning permit application. For applications from 1 April 2024, a new home may use at most 45 kWh of primary energy per m² a year, and its net heating need may be at most 15 kWh per m² a year. In some cases these limits are relaxed.

The home must also limit overheating in summer and meet minimum ventilation rates. Walls, roofs and floors may have a U-value of at most 0.24 W/m²K, windows at most 1.5, glass at most 1.1 and doors at most 2.0. A solar water heater needs its own meter.

For permit applications from 1 January 2025, gas and oil boilers may not be installed in a new home. In a project with several homes, this applies when all of them are new or treated as new.

More is coming. For permits filed from 1 January 2030 at the earliest, new homes will have to reach a zero-emission level, which still needs an implementing decree. From the same date, new homes will need solar panels or a solar water heater.

Don't count on a RENOLUTION premium for a new home: the premiums only apply to buildings older than 10 years, and they are suspended for now.

Details

ImpactIndirect · This saves no energy by itself: it is a rule, a service, a contract, or a health or safety item. How we rate impact
Estimated savingNot quantified; the rules set the minimum energy performance of the new home. (confidence: low)
Who actsYou (owner)
Needs landlord's agreementNo
TypeRules explained

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Sources

  1. Objectifs PEB pour chaque logement et exigences PEB en cas de travaux (in French) · Bruxelles Environnement (official source) · checked on
    Backs: for permit applications from 1 April 2024, at most 45 kWh/m² a year of primary energy and 15 kWh/m² a year of net heating need, sometimes relaxed; limited overheating, ventilation and U-value rules, meters on solar water heaters; no gas or oil boilers for permits from 1 January 2025 when all homes in the project are new; zero-emission level from 2030
    Where: sections 'Vérifiez la date de votre demande de permis d'urbanisme', 'Pour un logement neuf' and 'Bon à savoir'
  2. Exigences Umax/Rmin – Umax à partir de 2021 (Vade-mecum Travaux PEB) (in French) · Bruxelles Environnement (Guide Bâtiment Durable) (official source) · checked on
    Backs: maximum U-values of 0.24 W/m²K for walls, roofs and floors, 1.5 for windows, 1.1 for glass and 2.0 for doors
    Where: table 'Valeurs Umax réglementaires pour un projet dont la demande de permis d'urbanisme est déposée à partir du 01/01/2021'
  3. Objectifs PEB pour chaque bien et exigences PEB en cas de travaux (in French) · Bruxelles Environnement (official source) · checked on
    Backs: zero-emission requirements for new units from permits filed on 1 January 2030 at the earliest, still to be set by an implementing decree; solar panels or a solar water heater required on new homes from 1 January 2030
    Where: sections 'Futures exigences PEB « zéro émission » pour les unités PEB neuves' and 'Future obligation de placement d'un système solaire photovoltaïque et/ou thermique'
  4. Les Primes RENOLUTION (in French) · Bruxelles Environnement (official source) · checked on
    Backs: the premiums are suspended and only apply to buildings older than 10 years
    Where: section 'Important'

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