Vizcab: our review

Vizcab calculates the carbon footprint and thermal performance of a construction project, from the first scenario through to regulatory verification. The tool serves engineering firms, developers and materials manufacturers that need to produce a compliant life-cycle assessment (LCA), not an indicative estimate meant for awareness.

What the tool covers

Three modules make up the offer: Vizcab Eval for detailed analysis of a project by an architect or engineering firm, Vizcab Dashboard for managing a portfolio of projects on the developer or landlord side, and the free Observatoire, which compares a project against more than 1,300 monthly analyses and 1.6 million square meters already run through the tool. The calculation follows the dynamic LCA method and covers the RE2020 indicators — Ic Construction, Ic Énergie, Bbio, Cep, DH — through a module accredited by the Direction de l'habitat, de l'urbanisme et des paysages (DHU), part of the French Ministry for the Ecological Transition.

The real share of artificial intelligence

Precision matters here: the core of the calculation — the LCA formulas, the RE2020 thresholds, the dynamic method — falls under standardized, public regulation, not AI. What Vizcab adds on top is machine-learning algorithms that automatically identify a project's components, detect work packages and sub-packages, and match the most relevant environmental data sheet (FDES) to each element — a data-entry task that, done by hand, takes whole days on a complex project. The AI speeds up building the file; it doesn't replace the regulatory calculation, which stays identical whatever tool is used to produce it.

What remains unclear

Two points deserve checking before committing. First, pricing: no amount is published, access goes through a demo and then a quote, and the terms of service state that the price actually billed prevails over any pricing grid published elsewhere — a clause that leaves room for negotiation, in either direction. Second, hosting: the privacy policy states that OVH hosts the site and stores collected data, without specifying which country holds the servers used for client projects — a question worth asking directly if your project is sensitive.

Our take

For an engineering firm or developer subject to RE2020, the DHU accreditation is the argument that really matters: it avoids revalidating elsewhere a calculation already recognized by the authorities, in the same files as those handled on the real estate side for development and management. For occasional use or a first test, the free Observatoire lets you judge the tool on a real project before committing to a subscription whose amount is only revealed in a sales discussion. Best reserved for organizations that produce regulatory LCAs; it's not a general-public awareness tool, and the artificial intelligence it embeds serves data entry, not the calculation itself.