Engineering Science for Housing and Urban Environment

In partnership with ENSA - Nantes School of Architecture

Overview

Objective: Acquire strong and multidisciplinary scientific skills relating to the physics of city and housing, to meet the major contemporary challenges of city management and design regarding the adaptation to changes and ecological transition.

After the core courses in the first semester, students choose between two options on offer: the Housing option offers specific training for building design; the Urban Engineering option offers training geared towards management methods of the city and urban environment.
 

Contribution to sustainable development goals

Learn more about Centrale Nantes' commitment to the 17 sustainable development goals

Admission

This specialisation is open to international students selected by our partner institutions via a double degree programme.

Selected students spend two years studying courses from the engineering programme at Centrale Nantes. This usually includes one year of the common-core engineering curriculum followed by one year of specialisation. Double degree students are typically accepted after successfully completing two or three years of higher education in their home institution.

NB Most engineering programme courses are taught in French.
 

► Learn more about the double degree programme

Course Content

2025/26 Academic Year

Autumn Semester	Spring Semester
Building engineering	Architectural and environmental acoustics
Urban issues, ecologies and societies	Urban planning and transportation
BIM initiation	Energy at the city scale
Geographic information systems and databases	Building technology
Urban atmosphere	Project 2
Heating, conditioning and air treatment	Internship
Water and soil in urban environment
Thermal performance of buildings
Project 1

Download syllabus

Examples of projects and internships

Examples of previous projects

• Indicators for Eco-districts
• Drinking water network
• Regional energy efficiency
• Energy consumption forecast (Nantes Métropole)
• Energy study of a village (Saint-Fiacre sur Maine)
• Urban mobility diagram
• Car-free city
• Château des Sœurs: studies and recommendations for thermal renovation and water use
• Structural calculation of a hotel in Lebanon
• Comparative study of wood vs. concrete house
• Thermal performance of buildings: case study
• Design of a bioclimatic childcare centre (architecture competition)
• Sustainable house
• Implementation of E+ C- regulations (Bouygues)

Examples of previous internships undertaken

• Construction site (Bouygues Construction) to renovate the Santé prison in Paris
• Engineer in High Environmental Quality Building Design (CPOS)
• Consultant engineer in building energy renovation (POUGET Consultants)
• Management of urban development projects (ARTELIA)
• RE 2020 and low carbon construction (Bouygues Bâtiment)
• Energy design of the hospital center of Tours (AIA Ingénierie)
• Methodology to support designers in reducing the urban heat island effect (OASIIS)
• Environmental impact assessment of urban projects (Stratec)
• Design of an urban transport project (INGEROP Conseil & Ingénierie)
• Infrastructure for the renovation of a tramway line (SEMITAN)
• Thinking buildings as materials banks in Sweden (Anthesis Sweden AB)
• 3D modeling of infrastructure elements and definition of BIM solutions on the 3Dexperience platform (Dassault Systèmes)
• Deployment of digital tools for operating water networks (VEOLIA Eau)
•  Application of Lean Management to a major rehabilitation project (Bouygues Construction)

After the Specialisation

Sectors of activity

• Engineering consultancy
• Inspection and certification bodies
• Technical centres
• Local and regional authorities
• Specialist Institutes
• Large groups for urban development and service

Career Prospects

• Engineer in thermal technology and energy efficiency of buildings
• Engineering consultant in urban engineering
• Construction site engineer (new build / renovation)
• Consulting engineer in sustainable development, energy-building, environmental performance of projects, etc.
• Urban development and innovations project manager